Obsidian
by SilverTragedies
Summary: When Sonic and friends are subject to an invasion launched by Black Doom, it seems it's just another normal day of rescue for the heroes. However, much misfortune falls their way and they soon realize that this time, heroism comes with a deadly price...
1. Prologue: New Beginnings

**Foreword: Okay, here's the first chapter of Obsidian...well, the prologue to it at least. It's quite short, but the chapters will increase in length as you read on...I can guarantee that xD. Just to warn you, things will start out a little slowly at first, but there will be more than enough action rather soon. I just have to set the groundwork to the story before moving onward :p...So...enjoy. Feedback on this would be much appreciated, especially considering this is my first Sonic fanfic, lol.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

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P R O L O G U E

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Tension thickly filled the room, its presence nearly unbearable to the students squirming anxiously at their desks. Anticipation and excitement gripped them with a forceful hold, and it was all too prevalent for the anthropomorphic professor at the front of the classroom.

"I see my lecturing is useless," he monotonously proclaimed. All the students suddenly focused their attention on his being, then, surprised at his words. A small smile parted the wolf professor's jaws, and he casually said, "I'll see you all next year."

As if on cue, the sound of the school bell ripped through the classroom, the last one of the year. The students erupted into a great barrage of screaming and exclamation as they practically leapt from their desks and headed toward the door. Happiness and excitement were what buffeted the air as the school was emptied of all of its anthropomorphic students alike, and the ecstatic feelings spread like wildfire.

School was over with for the year. All the procrastination with projects, all of the homework, and all of the testing…it was _over_ for at least a little while. Summer was now in full swing. With three months of leisure at the teenagers' backs, life felt absolutely fantastic. Nothing could go wrong for them at such a euphoric point in their lives, and everything was well. Their summer-induced ignorance was bliss, and they were happily unaware of the trials to come…and all too soon.


	2. Sparring Match

**Foreword: I know it was really short, but I hope the prologue didn't completely turn you guys off to the concept of my fic, lol. The summary entails the main concept of everything that's to go on, but I have to still build up to the main plot...so bear with me here, guys xD. This next chapter includes a lighthearted spar between two of our favorite guys and a lot of complaining...so, here we go. Oh, as always, I'd always appreciate knowing what you guys think of this :X. Whether it be harsh criticism or not, it's still good to hear from the general public xD.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

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C H A P T E R – O N E :  
Sparring Match

_--_

The cool air conditioning of the building made its occupants nearly forget that outside the heat was almost unbearable. As the trio of males stepped inside the white-walled and plain structure, the near-foreign cold temperature kissing their fur (or quills, in one of their cases) was an immediate relief. Relaxed almost at once because of such a positive change, the three took a few awkward steps into the store. Though they enjoyed the coolness of the air, they weren't all too ecstatic for the reasoning they were at this grocery store in the first place.

"Remind me again why we're here, would you?" the only quill-clad male out of the group blandly asked. He turned back toward his two companions from his place before them, looking at them in a completely deadpan fashion.

"Because," the smaller of the remaining two started, "Amy needs us to buy food for the party tomorrow. She and Rouge don't have time to do it." As he was speaking, the small fox casually walked over to the confined area where the store's shopping carts rested. Grabbing one of them, he pushed it back over to his friends, his two tails lightly swishing behind him.

"What are you talking about? They have plenty of time! It's not like they have anything else to do…" the hedgehog with blue quills protested. At his words, the fox merely rolled his eyes and started pushing the empty cart toward the nearest aisle. The hedgehog and the third male of the trio, a red echidna, followed closely behind while the hedgehog continued his protesting. "Really, though, Tails – what else do _they_ have to do? They probably could've gone grocery shopping for the party well enough themselves…I bet they're making us do it just to torture us…"

"Just because we're grocery shopping for them doesn't mean it's torture, Sonic," Tails said, exasperated. He pushed the cart around a nearby corner and rounded into the next aisle.

"Maybe not for you," the hedgehog huffed, crossing his lanky arms across his chest. Tails let out a small laugh at his antics.

"Just be glad that it's summer," the echidna said to his companions. It had been the first time he'd spoken during the trio's trip to the store thus far, and so he immediately earned his friends' attention.

Sonic scratched the back of his head, ruffling a few of his cobalt blue quills in the process. "Yeah, that's true," he agreed. "We've got three full months of rest and relaxation!"

A sly smile crept up onto the echidna's face, his amethyst eyes gleaming. "Too bad you actually have to go back to school, and I don't," he casually bragged.

"Hey, shut up, Knuckles!" Sonic retaliated, also smiling. "At least Tails and I don't have to go to _college _yet. Yuck," he jokingly said, knowing that he only had one year left in high school, himself, considering he was a senior now. Knuckles' graduation had been earlier that day, and as of the end of that, the echidna was officially deemed part of their high school's alumni.

"So Knuckles will be a college freshman, right?" Tails said, scanning a grocery list in his hand before pulling down a few bags of chips from a nearby shelf. He carefully placed them in the cart and then continued with it down the aisle, his two friends following after him. "It's like you're starting the high school cycle all over again, except you're older and there's a lot less drama."

"Yeah dude, you're gonna be a frosh!" Sonic gleefully exclaimed, a bout of laughter escaping his throat. "Don't let any of the upperclassmen beat you up, alright?"

"I really doubt that any upperclassmen are going to beat me up," Knuckles simply responded, arching an eyebrow in Sonic's direction. "You're joking, right?" A smirk was evident on his face as he asked the question, his gaze briefly flickering down to his gloved hands. Though they were hanging loosely at his sides now, they were capable of enough power to do much worse than crush an enemy's skull.

Sonic smiled, shaking his head in exasperation. He knew far too well how much destruction Knuckles was capable of causing; through their and Tails' adventures in the past, his insane power had become normal for them to witness. "Nah, dude, I know you could beat the daylights out of most anyone. But a college _freshman_…" He laughed at the term.

Knuckles merely cast a glance at the hedgehog before grabbing packs of soda from the store shelves and placing them in the ever-filling cart. "Yeah, well at least I don't have to go through any more ridiculous _high school_ drama," he said.

"I can survive through one more year of it, I think," Sonic lightly retaliated. "Three years of it are behind me already – I've become sorta used to it by now…"

From a few paces in front of them, Tails groaned tiredly. In automatic response, both Knuckles and Sonic looked at him rather curiously. "I've got three more years of drama – it seems like forever," he said, sadly shaking his head. "I feel so young compared to you guys."

"That's because you _are_ so young, bro." Sonic ruffled the fur on top of Tails' head while he spoke, smiling down at him. When the young fox winced and pulled away, Sonic merely laughed and plucked a box of cereal from their shopping cart. "Amy told us to get _cereal_?" he skeptically asked, looking at Tails in confusion.

"Yeah, it said to get cereal on the list," he said, snatching the box of cereal from Sonic's hands and placing it back in the cart. "And I'm not _that_ young! Amy's only sixteen – a year older than me!"

"Since when did Amy's age come into this?" the hedgehog asked, completely forgetting about the mystery behind the need for buying cereal.

"Since you're dating her," Knuckles casually responded as the trio rounded another corner.

Sonic stopped in his tracks a few feet behind where Tails was standing, selecting more snacks from the shelves. His yellow ears were turned in the hedgehog's direction, as though expecting a response. Sonic did not notice, though, as he was busy glaring holes in the back of Knuckles' head. "I'm _not_ dating her!" he loudly exclaimed, causing a few other people in the store to turn and look curiously at the anthropomorphic trio.

Knuckles merely turned his head to the side to look at his long-time friend. "Well…almost dating her, then," he said good-naturedly. The echidna knew very well what sort of reaction he would receive from Sonic by taunting him about Amy; he'd done it countless times before, and the hedgehog always ended up being annoyed afterward. Knuckles loved seeing him so riled up, though – Sonic's frustration was hilarious sometimes, especially when he was flustered about Amy…the latter of which happened quite often.

"Amy and I are not even _close_ to dating!" Sonic sputtered, his arms floundering about in the air rather wildly. Tails looked at him oddly before hurriedly pushing the shopping cart down the remainder of the aisle and rounded the next corner, not wanting to be part of the upcoming argument.

Knuckles followed the fox at a leisurely pace, a triumphant smirk curving his lips. His antagonizing was working pretty well. Though he was one of Sonic's best friends, he still constantly teased him, and though the teasing was funny, he didn't do it mindlessly – there was obvious truth always evident behind his words. "But you _want _to date her," the echidna said in a low voice, knowing Sonic would hear him quite clearly.

"What!" The response from the hedgehog was immediate – in less than a second he was standing directly in front of Knuckles, viciously staring him in the face with his normally carefree green gaze. The two were at a rather equally matched height, so Knuckles was free to stare quite apathetically back at him. Silence was thick between the two, and Sonic's stance was absolutely rigid – his muscles were bursting with nerves as he waited for Knuckles to make his next move. "I do not like Amy!" he protested, blushing so fiercely it easily showed on his fur.

Knuckles held Sonic's gaze for a moment longer, smiled, and then easily walked past him, knowing that he'd pushed the hedgehog far enough. Still, he wouldn't let him get away with the last word in their bottomless argument. So, as the echidna rounded the corner, he playfully added, "It's only a matter of time, anyway."

Tails, seeing Knuckles stroll rather casually into the aisle, made haste for the checkout counter. The banter traveling forth between the echidna and the hedgehog was becoming quite heated, and he wanted to leave the store as soon as possible. His friends were too hotheaded for their own good, and if their argument progressed much further, it was sure to get physical. The fox cast a worried glance over at Knuckles, who was looking back at him with amusement. Tails flashed an unsure smile at him before stepping up to the clerk and hurriedly placing the groceries on the checkout counter.

The echidna lightly laughed at Tails' actions, realizing that the fox was fully aware of and nervous about what was transpiring between he and Sonic. They were too defensive of themselves, and it always caused the two trouble…which was quickly becoming evident, now.

"A matter of time until what, dude?" Sonic asked, the tone of his voice sounding rather dangerous. Knuckles turned around to face the blue hedgehog, his eyebrows furrowed together. It looked like he wanted to take this teasing argument much farther than the echidnahad intended. Knuckles inwardly groaned at this, knowing that the more than likely destructive outcome of this situation would be his fault.

Sonic still had that dangerous gleam in his gaze. He stared down Knuckles for the briefest of moments before smirking and saying, "Until you and – "

"Don't say it," Knuckles loudly interrupted. He realized all too late what Sonic was getting at, and had responded rather immediately. He harshly grit his teeth together and set his jaw as he met the hedgehog's gaze with a fiery intensity. Sonic's smirk merely grew wider at seeing Knuckles' reaction. _He _had the advantage now, and he knew it. The echidna inwardly cursed himself for letting such a thing happen against his favor.

Sonic opened his mouth as if to continue his phrase, and Knuckles' hands quickly tightened into fists at his sides. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to build in his body at the thought of a fight and hear his heartbeat racing in his ears. His short fuse got to him all too easily, and at this rate, he was expecting at least a light brawl with Sonic…nothing entirely serious, but nothing that was completely kindhearted and innocent, either.

"Stop," the echidna demanded, seeing the hedgehog try to speak again. Sonic merely kept on grinning for only a second longer, unable to keep his mouth shut.

"You and – "

The hedgehog was unable to finish his phrase, for Knuckles had charged at him as soon as the words had left his mouth, his teeth bared in a snarl. Sonic had easily dodged out of the way, dashing to the farthest corner of the store as nothing more than a blue blur.

Knuckles, far too well acquainted with Sonic's strategies, followed the hedgehog at an immeasurable pace. Though he wasn't as agile as his friend, he had his own techniques in order to keep up with him. Knuckles full-out rushed toward Sonic, who was leisurely standing amongst the fruits and vegetables of the store's produce section. The echidna's amethyst eyes easily observed him pick up an apple and inspect it, then swiftly turn his head toward his approaching friend. Knuckles tightened his hands into fists again as he saw Sonic catch sight of him, a smirk on his face. And though he knew he would miss, the echidna took a flying leap into the air and struck out with his right fist at Sonic –

– And, as he had suspected, rammed his hand into a display of apples. The woodwork of the stand completely shattered under the force of his punch, flying upward in utter disarray along with all the apples it had previously held. A few splintered pieces of wood managed to pierce through a few of the flying fruits.

Knuckles ignored the mess falling all around him and the many customers staring at him in shock. He was completely focused on the blue hedgehog standing a dozen yards ahead of him, at the other end of the store. The rage built in his stomach even further as he saw that Sonic was laughing at him.

With his eyes nearly blazing fire, Knuckles fiercely looked down at a stray apple that had managed to bump into his foot. After a brief moment of thought, he snatched it up from the ground and smirked. Before the awestruck customers could suspect anything, he had rushed off in Sonic's direction again. Though his footsteps were light and near silent on the floor, his running was easily noticed. His speed was intense enough to leave a sharp breeze in its wake, causing magazine pages to flip wildly and customers' hair to toss about. Just as heads started to turn in reaction to his running, the echidna had already skidded to a halt in the corner where Sonic had previously been standing. As soon as he saw the hedgehog run off again, he followed in immediate pursuit, the apple clutched tightly in his hand.

Knuckles' sharp gaze didn't let Sonic out of sight. As soon as he saw him duck around a corner and into another aisle, the echidna launched himself over the racks of food and into the same aisle. Immediately upon contact with the tiled ground, Knuckles thrust his fist out toward Sonic, who was only a few feet ahead of him, motionless.

He met air. Sonic had run off again.

Knuckles let out a small growl of annoyance, grinding his teeth together as he did so, and took off in continued pursuit. He wasn't about to let his hedgehog friend get away _that_ easily.

Their fight continued in the same manner for the following minute. Sonic would always stop when he was far enough ahead and taunt Knuckles until he was seeing red. The echidna would then chase after him in blind rage until he reached the hedgehog's position and then strike out with tremendous force…and always come up short. Though Knuckles knew he shouldn't be getting so worked up over such a trivial fight, his muscles still quivered with his intense rage. _He _was the one who started the fight, so _he_ should be the one to end it…not Sonic.

As another of his misplaced punches felled a cereal display, Knuckles released a frustrated growl, the noise so disturbing that it caused a few customers to turn their heads in fear. Completely ignorant of their actions, the echidna simply propelled himself away from the wreckage he had caused and along Sonic's path once again. He was determined to win this fight, and soon.

Knuckles' rage toward Sonic led him through the main aisle of the store, directly past the cash registers. All the customers saw of him was a mere red blur that passed through their gaze so quickly, it seemed as though it had only been their imagination playing tricks on them. They could, however, feel the breeze he left in his wake due to his incredible speed and hear his startling yelling. As a result of his behavior, various customers ducked into aisles and huddled on the ground in fear or left the store in frantic haste.

Tails, who was finishing bagging all the groceries Amy had asked him to buy for the party, heard Knuckles' scream of rage very audibly. At the sound of it, he immediately turned around and watched as the red blur slowed to a sudden stop in order to lash out at a few packages of bread. Knuckles' features were in plain view for only but a second before he was gone again, his figure indistinguishable.

"Oh, God," the fox mumbled under his breath, despairing. He knew that Knuckles wasn't blindly wreaking havoc on the store for no reason – Sonic was taunting him. And, because of that, the two were slowly destroying the interior of the store. Tails blushed at his friends' actions; though they were world-renowned heroes, they still tended to act quite childish at times, and it embarrassed him to no end. So, in a huff, Tails hurriedly placed all of his grocery bags in a shopping cart nearby and made haste to get out of the store. If Knuckles and Sonic were to cause any more damage, he didn't want to be a part of it.

The echidna ferociously swiped at the spot where Sonic would've been, if the hedgehog hadn't run off to another corner of the store. Without even bothering to slow his momentum, the echidna unsteadily skidded on one heel and bolted off after Sonic, his lips spread in a snarl. This battle that he, so far, wasn't winning was aggravating him beyond his limits. Due to his frustration, he wasn't thinking too rationally, either – all logic was completely erased from his mind while completely unadulterated rage took its place.

In the blink of an eye, Knuckles had already run over to Sonic's new location and punched at him again, only to hit air. As his fist came into contact with nothing, he let out a bellow of rage and charged after the hedgehog again, completely ready to end this ridiculous sparring match.

Sonic, who had slowed his pace in order to taunt Knuckles even further, started jogging backwards so he could see his opponent. A smirk immediately grew on his face as he saw the echidna lost in complete bloodlust and struggling to keep up. Sonic opened his mouth to call out to him, and –

– he tripped. The back of Sonic's foot had caught in the mesh of a bag of potatoes, and a mask of utter surprise overtook his face as he realized that he was going to stumble. And stumble he did; his footsteps suddenly became misplaced and awkward. Seeing this event as his sudden advantage, Knuckles smiled rather wickedly and continued to approach Sonic at full speed, who was struggling to untangle his foot from the mesh. Only a second later did he manage to do so, but Knuckles was already upon him. Sonic only had enough time to run four footsteps before an immense force collided with his back and he was thrust into the dairy products. Milk cartons viciously exploded and toppled onto the hedgehog as he lay there in defeat, completely soaked because of the mess.

From a few feet away, Knuckles laughed at his friend's defeat. Sonic's cockiness had finally overcome him, and thus caused his defeat. The echidna curiously surveyed the mess of cartons and milk seeping out onto the floor, but his attention was immediately grabbed by a red something rolling out of the wreckage.

Knuckles' smile twisted into a smirk as he picked up the apple that had made his victory possible; he had thrown it at Sonic with an insane amount of force just as the hedgehog had tried to escape.

With a last laugh, Knuckles tossed the apple up into the air, caught it, and leisurely made his way out of the store.


	3. Unexpected Encounters

**Foreword: Firstly, I would like to thank Riftun, freak 0n a leash, SSG Tanner X. Echidna, and D for reviewing. Your feedback really means a lot to me xD; it's really encouraging to get responses from people, so, once again, thank you. And next, I know that there was a delay in the arrival of this chapter...sorry for that. And also, this one's a little shorter than chapter one, but we're still gradually easing into the main plot of the fic, so...please, still try to deal with it, lol. In this chapter we've got Knuckles running into an old friend in a rather uncomfortable situation while he goes on a quest through Amy's house...for a bathroom. You don't find out the uncomfortable situation until the next chapter, though, which will be coming out soon. There's some really weird humor in here and a little swearing, but nevertheless... Enjoy!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

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C H A P T E R – T W O :  
Unexpected Encounters

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"So…um…" Tails started, his voice unsure as he feebly attempted to make conversation. He was piloting the Tornado through the air, in the direction of Amy's house. The groceries he had been sent out to purchase were safely stored in multiple compartments in the aircraft, and they weighed it down greatly – there was only enough energy for Tails to pilot the Tornado just over thirty feet in the air, and nothing more. The rooftops of the city's suburbs seemed all too close, now, and he grew wary because of it.

The other two occupants of the vehicle didn't respond to Tails' words. After their heated fight in the grocery store and all the destruction they had caused, the shopkeeper had promptly kicked them out and permanently banned them from returning. Their ban from the store wasn't exactly a punishment, though, as they had never been there and more than likely would've never gone there again – the two were simply bitter about the conclusion of the fight, which had ended as a complete loss for Sonic.

Knuckles merely smirked at nothing as he slumped in his seat in the Tornado; he was, overall, happy about the outcome of his and Sonic's battle. Though it had looked like he wasn't going to win at first, Sonic's cockiness had caused him to stumble and then the events had immediately turned in Knuckles' favor. Remembering this, the echidna laughed lightly and cast a triumphant glance over to Sonic, who had his back turned to him.

The hedgehog was utterly bitter about the situation, and because of that, he hadn't spoken since leaving the store. In his view, the fight was completely Knuckles' fault, and if the echidna hadn't started it, then the hedgehog wouldn't be soaked with about twenty cartons' worth of milk. Sonic furrowed his eyebrows together and set his jaw as the Tornado continued to soar through the air – the milk embedded in his quills was being dried from the wind, and thus gave them a brittle sensation. It felt rather alien and quite disgusting to him, and he let out a sigh of annoyance. The sooner Tails landed the plane and they made it to Amy's house, the better.

Upon hearing Sonic's sigh, Knuckles turned his gaze upon him, arching an eyebrow in the process. After looking at him for a moment and observing his slumped figure, Knuckles merely rolled his eyes and said, "Oh c'mon, Sonic, you can't win _every_ battle."

Sonic didn't bother to respond. He merely huffed and folded his arms upon the edge of the Tornado, letting his chin rest heavily on his bicep. He stared sullenly out at the sky, which was a vibrant shade of blue; from it, the sun burned down upon him with its fierce noontime intensity, causing the brittle feeling in his quills to increase tenfold.

At the hedgehog's unresponsive demeanor, Knuckles rolled his eyes again and looked down upon the streets beneath them from his side of the Tornado. He stayed quiet for a few moments as he observed the city passing quickly underneath them, appearing as though it was a multicolored mess. Just as the echidna started to feel uncomfortable due to the thickness of the silence, Tails broke the tension with a swift interruption.

"Okay guys, we're going to start descending now," he promptly informed, looking in his rearview mirror to see his friends' responses. Knuckles nodded in confirmation while Sonic stayed absolutely motionless, his gaze still directed out toward the sky. Tails curiously observed the hedgehog's behavior for a moment before directing his attention back to landing the Tornado.

After a few moments, the three had successfully landed in the driveway to Amy's house. Tails habitually shut off the aircraft's engines while Knuckles and Sonic hopped out of their seats and onto the driveway. The cement beneath their feet had been warmed by the summer sun, and the air was equally hot and humid; it was a definite change from the coolness of the grocery store. Without saying a word, Sonic emotionlessly walked up to the quaint home's oaken front door and knocked. Knuckles watched as the door promptly swung open and in its place stood Amy, dressed in pink as per usual and with a happy demeanor.

"Hi guys!" she called out, waving over to him and Tails. Knuckles waved back while Tails responded with a bright "Hi Amy!" and hopped out of the driver's seat of the Tornado. Amy simply smiled and then overtook Sonic, who was standing before her, in a huge hug. Her smile was wider than ever as he simply patted her back in an awkward manner.

Knuckles laughed at the blue hedgehog's discomfort before turning his attention to Tails, who was busy unloading the groceries from the various compartments on the Tornado. "I'll take some of those," he said, picking up some of the grocery bags in the process.

"Oh, thanks, Knuckles." Tails smiled at him before shutting the compartments to his vehicle and taking the small remainder of bags. With the party food in hand, the two walked up to the front door of Amy's home, which was a white-walled, two-story house. It was a bright building, and Knuckles thought it embodied the typical home…it even had a picket fence out front, and a well-groomed lawn. It was so stereotypical on the outside it was ridiculous, but it was still a great place to hold a party.

Amy had left the front door open for the two of them and so they promptly walked in. Knuckles, only having been in her home once in his life, looked about it in interest. The room he had just walked into was absolutely huge; with polished wood flooring and mahogany-colored walls, it gave off the appearance of a parlor. A leather couch and similar armchairs were located off to a far corner, while a widescreen TV was situated in front of the furniture. A dartboard was located on another wall, while a large fireplace was set into another.

Knuckles' amethyst eyes widened as he took in the hugeness of the place; _this_ room must be where the party would mainly be held. He gave it a second glance-over before following Tails through an open archway and into an adjoining room, the kitchen.

"Is it okay if we set the bags here, Amy?" Tails asked, motioning toward the black-marble countertop in the middle of the room.

"Yeah, that's fine. Thanks for buying all of that for me," Amy brightly responded, smiling. Tails smiled back at her and set the groceries upon the counter, Knuckles doing the same in quick succession.

"Hey…where's Sonic?" the fox questioned, looking about the room in curiosity.

"In the bathroom," Amy said. She arched one of her slender eyebrows at Tails, her eyes gleaming curiously. "He's been really quiet and acting weird…what happened to him?"

Tails sighed and shook his head. "It's a long story," he said exasperatedly. Knuckles merely smirked and nodded in agreement.

"Really?" the pink hedgehog asked. "It couldn't have been _that_ bad…"

"It is," Tails reassured, looking at her seriously. "He and Knuckles were arguing, and – "

"I won the argument," Knuckles swiftly interjected. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned casually back against the black-marble countertop of the kitchen, the smirk twisting into a small smile on his face.

"What?" Amy's eyebrows furrowed together as her gentle gaze drifted over to Knuckles. Judging by his demeanor and his smugness, she could see that something more than just an argument had gone on. "Oh, Knuckles, you didn't fight with him, did you?" she condescendingly asked.

The echidna easily met Amy's gaze. "Well…" he started, dragging out the word to such an extent that Amy pouted in disapproval. Seeing this, he let out a small laugh and unfolded his arms. "Only a little, Amy. It wasn't anything bad, though…it just ended up with him getting a little soaked, that's all," he said in a bright tone, attempting to console the girl.

"Is that why Sonic's quills felt so weird?" she joked. Knuckles merely nodded while Tails smiled. Amy returned the smile and laughed a little herself before walking over to the counter where the grocery bags were placed. "Can you guys help me put all this away? There's sort of a lot here…" she said, motioning to the twenty bags of food.

Tails merely laughed and said, "Sure, Amy." He started taking the food for the party out of the bags along with his other two friends and putting it away. The three continued doing so for a few moments before Amy finally broke the silence.

"So what were you guys fighting about, anyway?" she said, taking out a box of cereal and placing it in a nearby cupboard. Tails stayed determinedly quiet in response; he didn't exactly want to talk about Knuckles' and Sonic's scuffle.

The echidna, seeing that Tails wasn't going to speak anytime soon, decided to take the task upon himself. As he was taking the groceries out of the bags and handing them to Tails to put away, he started to say, "Well –"

"It was nothin', Ames," Sonic suddenly interrupted. He was standing in the open archway to the kitchen, his eyes dangerously focused on Knuckles. "Nothing important, at least," he said, staring hard at the echidna. Knuckles met his harsh gaze with a laid-back demeanor, knowing full well what Sonic intended by his intense stare. He was silently telling him to shut the hell up. The echidna smirked good-naturedly at this, knowing that he wouldn't have told Amy the truth, anyway; if he had, the conversation would've eventually ended up turning toward his own love life…which he didn't particularly like discussing.

With his silent message sent, Sonic let his gaze flicker over to Amy, who was looking at him in confusion. In order to change the topic of conversation, he immediately brightened his demeanor and smiled widely as he walked over to the pink hedgehog. "So, Amy," he started, leaning against the countertop next to her, "is everything ready for the party tomorrow?"

Knuckles couldn't help but smirk as he noticed Amy practically beam from the fact that Sonic was standing close to her _and_ actually attempting to make conversation. She subtly shifted closer to him only a moment later, and the echidna had to restrain himself from laughing. He made an odd choking sound in the process and immediately covered his mouth with one of his gloved hands, causing everyone to look at him in a weird fashion.

"Uh, I n-need to go to the b-ba-athroom," he laughed-stuttered out, his words hardly intelligible, before the echidna practically ran out of the room in order to quell his amusement.

Considering that he'd only been to Amy's house a single time in his life, Knuckles had no idea of where the bathroom was. He rushed out of the kitchen and passed quickly through the parlor, his laughter threateningly close to escaping his throat. After walking through another open archway and stumbling upon a dining room, he made his way down an adjoining hallway and let his hand fall from his mouth. His laughter came out in long-winded and loud bursts, although he tried to stifle them with his fists...which worked rather horribly. The sound of his laughing easily echoed off of the wood-paneled walls of the hallway and reverberated back into his ears. He couldn't help it, though…Amy and Sonic were just so _funny_. She was head over heels for him and _he _wasn't willing to admit that he liked her. Sonic's crush was obvious, though – Tails and Knuckles both had been aware of his feelings for an incredibly long time, even though the hedgehog had never told them of it. His actions completely gave him away, and were always incredibly obvious – like the incident in the kitchen.

"Ahaha, wow," Knuckles mumbled to himself, his amusement gradually dying down. With a few more brief chuckles, he leaned against one of the hallway's walls, his stomach aching from how much he'd laughed at the situation between Amy and Sonic. After a few moments of regaining his breath, the echidna realized that he actually _did_ have to go to the bathroom, and leisurely went on his way to find it.

Laden throughout the hallway were a series of doors; three on the left, three on the right. Knuckles first checked the door closest to him, the one on the left. "Bathroom?" he mumbled to empty space, opening the door and stumbling across a study. There was a grand, oaken desk situated in the middle of the room and with plenty of bookshelves to accompany it. Knuckles looked over the scene for a moment before shutting the door and crossing the hallway to the next one. "Bathroom?" he ridiculously questioned again, turning the brass knob of the door and opening it to see a king-sized bed. After analyzing the room for a moment, the echidna deduced that the room he'd just found was the master bedroom of the house. Not the bathroom.

Closing the door to the room, Knuckles crossed the hallway once again and stood before the next room. His patience had already started to wear thin in his quest for finding a bathroom, and he also felt _really_ awkward looking through all of the rooms in Amy's house while she wasn't around. It was just…weird. If she came across him while he was opening all of these doors looking for the bathroom, she would probably accuse him of being a pervert and just wanting to look in her room…and Knuckles _definitely_ did not want to get involved with that situation. Plus, Sonic would probably get angry with him because of it, too.

More quickly than he had before, Knuckles turned the knob to the door before him and shoved it open, his amethyst eyes immediately analyzing the room. "Bathroom – WHAT THE HELL?!" His question had turned into a gargled scream and he pulled the door shut as fast as he could and ran across the hallway, bewildered by what he'd seen. He stood, leaning against the opposing door, his eyebrows arched in extreme surprise and feeling rather awkward. When he'd entered that room, he _really_ hadn't been expecting to run into –

"KNUCKLEHEAD!" As if on cue, Rouge slammed the door to the room open and stood in the archway, absolutely fuming. Her hands were clenched in utter anger and her wings were spread menacingly. She glared at him from across the hallway, her stare intense. Knuckles shrunk under her gaze and slumped back against the door, a tight clenching erupting in his stomach – _fear_.

"Uh, hi Rouge," he said stupidly.

The batgirl merely glared daggers at the echidna in response to his greeting, her fists tightening evermore. Knuckles, seeing this, grew a little more nervous and unsteadily moved one of his hands onto the doorknob behind him. "Uh, so, uh…h-how are you today? I know what happened in there w-was a little awkward, but –"

"YOU PERVERT!" Rouge insanely screamed, launching herself across the hallway at the echidna. In an effort to dodge, Knuckles fearfully ducked into the room behind him and then slammed the door violently shut. As soon as he did, a large slamming sound echoed throughout the room and some wood at the top of the door splintered from the impact; Rouge had slammed face-first into the wooden door due to Knuckles' evasion of her attack.

"Oh, hell," he murmured, swiftly locking the door and scuffling over to the other side of the room. The wooden paneling on the floor felt different in this room, colder; when he looked down, he realized the reason was because the floor was tiled, not paneled. He immediately stopped his scuffling, then, and glanced swiftly around the room. A great sense of relief flooded his system as he realized that he had, miraculously, stumbled into the bathroom.

"YES!" he yelled, jumping into the air joyously.

From outside, he deftly heard Rouge mumble an aggravated, "Go to hell." Knuckles winced at this and realized that she probably thought his joy was because she'd run into the door. Feeling slightly awkward, he shuffled over to the bathroom door and unlocked it. That was his first and last mistake, for as soon as the lock had clicked open the door slammed inward and successfully bashed Knuckles in the face. He was sent flying backwards as Rouge stood in the archway, her eyes burning with a fiery intensity.

From where he had been slammed into the bathroom wall, Knuckles groggily looked up at the batgirl and stuttered an unsure, "Uh, I'm sorry?" He didn't have time to say anything else, though, because she had fiercely walked up to him and flung him out into the main hallway. Upon colliding with the wooden-paneled wall, all of Knuckles' thoughts went blank and darkness completely engulfed his vision. Reality became a blurry haze as his motor skills seemed to vanish and he slowly passed into unconsciousness.


	4. Confrontation

**Foreword: Okay, so...hi again. I'm back (for REAL this time) after a few months' hiatus...school kinda enveloped my life. But no more excuses. I found my muse for this story again, so I'm definitely going to continue writing it. This chapter is what I consider a filler chapter, so it's not that interesting...just a little silly stuff to get things back on track again. It's kinda rough, too, because I haven't written in a while, so please bear with me. And, to all you guys who bothered to read this fic before I went away, sorry for being gone. I feel really guilty, so I'll try to update weekly from now on. In this segment of _Obsidian_ you learn what happened between Rouge and Knuckles...it's very brief, but I thought I shouldn't have made an elaborate tale of it. But anyway, on with the story :) ...(well, the disclaimer first, and THEN the filler chapter.)  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

**

* * *

**

C H A P T E R - T H R E E :  
Confrontation

--

The first thing that he noticed was the pain. A splitting, searing heat felt like it was slowly being pushed into his skull, its tip as sharp as a dagger. He screwed his face up into a pained frown and grit his teeth from reflex, hoping that some of the heat would subside. It didn't, much to his misfortune.

A snarl ground out from his throat, the guttural noise piercing the silence that surrounded him. Where was he, and why did his head hurt so much? His memory was foggy, and it pained him to think. When he actually managed to focus enough to concentrate on what had last happened, only a blurry depiction of Rouge's face, her mouth twisted into an angry frown, was the only thing that came to mind –

_Rouge_.

As her name echoed within the walls of his brain, the rest of his recollection came flooding back all at once. The sensation was so sudden and overwhelming that it made him nauseous. He remembered his fight with Sonic at the grocery store, going to Amy's, trying to find the bathroom, and then his encounter with Rouge. After that, everything went blank. So…how did he end up on the floor? He struggled to make the connection for a few moments before he finally realized that _she_ had _knocked him out_ during their scuffle in the hallway.

Knuckles groaned in annoyance. The batgirl had managed to get the best of him again – and now he would never hear the end of it. She loved to brag whenever she emerged as the victor from their random fights, and he absolutely loathed when that happened. Sure, he was more than a little fond of Rouge – which Sonic and Tails were both well-aware of – but she was a real handful sometimes. _And_ she was ruthless. He didn't exactly think of it as the best combination of attributes a person could have.

But did she _really_ need to be so thorough when she knocked him out? Usually, he was never in much pain after their fights, but she'd outdone herself this time. The searing agony in Knuckles' head was too intense to bear for much longer; he knew he had to do something about it.

He forced his eyes open and was nearly blinded by the hallway's lighting. Resorting to squinting until his pupils adjusted, the echidna groggily sat up, a wave of nausea washing over him. He stopped all movement for a few moments as he tried to avoid throwing up, and got to his feet as the sickness passed. He leaned against the wall for support, staggering down the hallway with his shoulder poised against it. He kept his gaze away from the blaring light overhead, and dearly hoped that he wouldn't run into Rouge – she would definitely take advantage of the weakened condition he was currently in, and Knuckles knew the outcome wouldn't be good.

He walked down to the end of the hallway and rounded the corner into the parlor, only to come upon his friends lounging on one of the leather couches. He froze in his spot against the wide arch of the doorway, looking unsurely at the hedgehogs and the two-tailed fox that were before him.

"Dude, what happened?" Sonic queried, looking at Knuckles skeptically. At his words, both Amy and Tails turned around to face him. Surprised expressions grew on both of their faces as they noticed the echidna's disheveled appearance.

Knuckles embarrassedly rubbed the back of his head. The pain in his skull was steadily getting more intense with each emotion he felt, and he desperately wanted to go home, get an ice pack, and go to sleep.

"Rouge just bolted out of the hallway and left!" Amy added, her green gaze focused on him accusingly. "What did you do?"

He blushed, hoping that Amy hadn't jumped to some …racy assumption about what had happened. "Uh, it's not what you think?" he meekly said.

Sonic looked at him blankly. "Well, then what is it?

"Nothing," he lied, his suddenly frantic tone betraying him. Sonic merely sighed and turned back around on the couch, continuing to watch TV. Amy, meanwhile, continued to malevolently stare at him. Tails glanced at her warily before turning back around and joining Sonic with the television.

"You had to have done _something_ to make Rouge leave like that," she said lowly. Knuckles unsteadily met her gaze, but quickly looked at the floor once he noticed the fiery intensity of her eyes. Amy was just going to keep interrogating him if he acted meek, and he definitely did _not_ want to tell her what had transpired with the batgirl. He had to end this, now.

"Nothing happened!" he brutishly exclaimed, falling back into his usual hotheaded demeanor. He actually allowed himself to get a little angry; it made it easier to get Amy to back off.

"Something must've!" she yelled back, standing up on the seat of the couch and pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Or else she wouldn't have acted like that! Now tell me!"

"No!" he roared, shuffling toward the door. His head was pounding like hell. He had to get out of there as soon as possible, or else it would be the end of him…or his social life, at least.

However, Amy jumped out in front of him, thwarting his escape. He swore under his breath as she smirked at him, like she thought she had the upper hand in the situation.

"Aha! That means something _did_ happen!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

Knuckles cursed his stupidity and realized that she actually _did_ have the upper hand. _Damn her and her dementedly efficient manipulative skills_, he bitterly thought.

Amy huffed and placed her hands on her hips as the echidna remained silent. "Tell me," she sternly demanded. Upon realizing that he wouldn't be telling her anything anytime soon, she walked closer, until she was directly in front of him. "Tell me," she said again. Knuckles emotionlessly stared her in the face.

Amy then barraged him with an array of shouts of "TELL ME!" Knuckles withstood the onslaught for nearly a minute, his annoyance increasing tenfold with each word she uttered. It finally escalated to the point where he was gritting his teeth and he could take it no longer.

"JUST BECAUSE I WALKED IN ON ROUGE CHANGING WHICH CAUSED HER TO THROW ME AGAINST THE WALL MULTIPLE TIMES AND KNOCK ME OUT DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT!" he bellowed, his eyes ablaze with anger. Amy stared up at him in shock at his words, and Sonic and Tails turned to stare at him from their spots on the couch.

An awkward moment of silence reigned as the echidna realized what he'd just said. A fierce blush flooded his cheeks as he glanced nervously around at everyone else, then walked across the silent parlor and exited through the front door. Once outside, he clenched his hands into fists and shouted at the sky, "DAMMIT!"

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the house, Sonic, Tails, and Amy all stared at each other in confusion.

"So it's agreed we're not going to tell anyone about this?" Sonic asked.

"Agreed," said Amy and Tails.


	5. Sage

**Foreword:** **Hi everyone. In this next chapter of _Obsidian_, you get to meet basically the only mainstream OC that will be in this story...for now. I'm not really sure if there will be other ones that come later (probably not), but she's it for now. I hope she's not totally annoying :p. Anyway...lol. In this update, the party starts, you get a feel for the OC's personality, and the chapter ends in a torrent of swearing, just like the last one. Just by writing this fic, I'm learning that I like to end chapters with characters passing out and degenerating into swearing fits. It's really interesting, haha. But yeah...on with the story. (BY THE WAY - the real plot line starts next chapter. I'm so excited to post it, you might just see it appear a little earlier than usual... :p)  
ALSO, I'd like to warn you, there's a little bit of underage drinking in the next following chapters. I just figured I'd let you know, because some readers might not particularly like that :x  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

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C H A P T E R - F O U R :  
Sage

--

The following day, Sage Blackwell stared blankly in her mirror. The ever-fading light filtering in from the window overhead barely illuminated her room, causing her face to look shadowed as she stared at her reflection. Her evergreen eyes had no conflicts with the darkness, however; even though it normally had a crippling effect on one's sight, it didn't faze her in the slightest. She could see perfectly fine – even better than normal, actually. That was just how it went with cats – they were perfectly adapted to the night and its commodities.

And she, being a cat, was able to easily scrutinize her appearance in the mirror. Her white fur was groomed, as per usual, and everything felt as though it was in the right order. For all she knew, she was good to go for the party that night.

"Sage?" The query caused her to glance away from the mirror and look at the new mobian that had entered the room. A lavender-furred cat stood in the doorway, the signature feather-like fur styled atop her head silhouetted against the light from the hallway.

Sage lifted herself off of from where she'd been perched on her bed and tiredly grinned. "Yeah Blaze, I'm ready to go," she said. The presence of the other cat, her cousin, had immediately indicated that it was time to leave for the party.

Blaze smiled. "Are you sure you can't read minds?" she asked, joking. "You always answer my questions before I ask them." She raised one of her eyebrows playfully, crossing her arms over her chest as the other cat good-naturedly rolled her eyes and walked past her.

"Maybe I can't read minds, but I can read people," Sage said, walking out into the hallway. She beckoned to Blaze with a flick of her wrist. "C'mon, let's go to Amy's. We're going to be late if you keep stalling."

"_Stalling_?" she scoffed, waltzing past the white cat and down the stairs. "You were the one staring at yourself in the mirror! I'd hardly say that I was the one stalling." She watched as Sage followed her down the stairs, and then jokingly rolled her eyes as she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on. "Anyway, we have to go pick up Silver now. He's too lazy to drive himself over to Amy's, the selfish hog."

Sage laughed. "Such nice words about your boyfriend," she said, donning her coat and opening the door as Blaze retrieved her car keys from the kitchen.

"He knows I love him," she responded.

They exited the house and shut and locked the door, walking down the pathway to Blaze's SUV parked out on the street. She'd always insisted on having a bulky car; she considered the smaller ones as too wimpy and unsafe, especially with her crime-fighting lifestyle. Even though she'd only had the vehicle for a year, it was already beat up – dents were splattered all about its exterior, and there were a few burn marks scattered about its surface. The battle scars were the work of Eggman, who had been acting up a lot more frequently in the past year than ever before. Sage, who had moved in with Blaze at the beginning of the school year, had learned about the evil doctor very quickly during her stay.

At least once a month, Blaze had gone off along with the rest of the Sonic gang in order to beat Eggman into submission. When she'd got her license that year (a normality for juniors in high school), she'd taken her SUV along with her. Each time she returned, the car kept coming back more and more battle-worn, until it finally reached its current state. It still worked perfectly fine, but it wasn't really something special to look at.

During that same year, Blaze had also managed to introduce Sage to all of her comrades. The first person she met was her cousin's crush at the time, Silver. He was definitely a charming sort of guy, a little eccentric, and kind of an ass, but he was friendly. And Sage could tell that Blaze was head over heels for him. After a few months of watching the two interact, it was obvious that Silver felt the same way too, despite his denial when she asked him about it. A little while later, the school hosted one of its annual dances and the two ended up together somehow. Sage still didn't know the details, because Blaze refused to talk about it and she knew that Silver wouldn't say a word, but she had the strange feeling that it had something to do with Rouge. That girl had constantly been trying to get the two together for the entire year. Sage thought of her as a matchmaker of sorts within her circle of friends.

Along with being friends with Rouge, she'd become close to Amy, as well. The two had shared a few classes over the course of the semesters, and Blaze hung out with her regularly, so Sage saw her a lot. After about a month, they had become fast friends, and she'd met the rest of the guys that Blaze was associated with. Sonic was kind of cocky, but funny and friendly otherwise; Knuckles was pretty hotheaded, but was definitely someone good to have on your side; and Tails…well, he was an all-around nice fox. There were times when he was a little sensitive, but he was amazingly smart and friendly despite that.

During the Sonic team's excursions with Eggman, Sage had stayed at home. Blaze absolutely refused to let her go along with the rest of them to fight, much to her cousin's dismay. She always claimed it was too dangerous for her to get herself involved.

Despite the bitterness she felt about the situation, Sage decided to not let it become a major conflict and just let it go. Blaze _was_ used to dealing with Eggman, after all. If she tried to go along, she'd probably only get in the way, and she didn't want anyone getting hurt because of her own foolishness. And, besides, she didn't have Sonic's super-speed, Knuckles' immense strength, or Tails' incredible knowledge. For all she knew, she was a simple, plain, ordinary feline.

The two cats loaded into the car and Blaze started it up. As the engine roared to life, Sage mischievously smirked. "Well, at least for now he thinks you love him."

Blaze grinned and lightly pushed her. "Shut up!" She laughed, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the side of the road.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, they'd successfully picked up Silver and arrived at Amy's house. Blaze parked alongside the curb and turned off the car, pocketing the key in her jeans. The three hopped out of the vehicle and proceeded to make their way toward the front door of Amy's house, it s shape illuminated by a few porch lights.

A light breeze passed over Sage as she walked up to the door, its coolness a refreshing change from the usual summer heat. Though both night and the temperature had already fallen, it was still pretty hot out. The breeze was welcomed, though it carried with it the odd scents of steel and sulfur.

She took no heed of the odd smells as they finally reached the doorstep. Silver, who was dressed casually in a t-shirt and jeans, knocked on the door's oaken surface and the trio waited for their call to be answered.

A few moments later, the door swung open and Amy stood in its place, smiling broadly. Along with her appearance came the sudden presence of loud music blasting in the background. From what Sage could see, there were already a ton of mobians dancing inside. The party seemed to have proven itself as a huge success.

"Hi guys!" Amy exclaimed. Her happiness was infectious; Sage couldn't help but smile back at her hedgehog friend. She beckoned them into the house, the upbeat atmosphere immediately enveloping them as they stepped into the midst of the parlor.

The room was packed. Just from a simple glance around, Sage already recognized a handful of juniors – now seniors – from her class, and a ton of newly-graduated students. The party looked to be more like a graduation sort of thing rather than a general end of school celebration, what with the overwhelming amount of upperclassmen.

The music blasting from a corner of the room was incredibly fast-paced, and she was already itching to go out onto the floor and dance. Parties like this were rare occurrences during the year, so whenever they happened she always liked to make the most of the experience.

"Here, I'll take your coats," Amy shouted, fighting to be heard over the loud music. Blaze, Silver, and Sage all shrugged off their jackets for her to take. Once she had them in her arms, she motioned for them to join the party and then scurried away into another room of the house.

Sage's green eyes scanned the room again, diligently noting the locations of exits, couches, and whatnot. If she needed to leave or sit down, she'd be easily able to, but it wasn't like she'd want to depart unless the temperature became unbearable. Though the air conditioner was running (at a nice 68 degrees, according to the thermostat on the wall), she knew it would be considerably hotter and more humid all too soon. She could practically feel the air thinning because of all the movement going on.

Silver turned to her and Blaze, his eyes alight with excitement. "Ready to go?" he asked enthusiastically, sweeping his arm toward the party behind him. Blaze examined the scene for a few seconds, her eyes skillfully scanning the crowd, before she shook her head. At her response, Silver looked as though he was at a loss for words. He stared at her with his mouth agape for a few moments before finally sputtering, "But why not!"

"Don't you think we should find everyone else first?" she said smartly. Having become well acquainted with her use of the term, Sage knew she meant her crime-fighting friends when she said "everyone else."

The hedgehog brightened immediately at her words. "Good idea," he commented, swiftly wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pressing his lips to her cheek in a brisk kiss.

Sage laughed as a violent blush overtook Blaze's cheeks and Silver simply smiled and unwrapped his arm from around her. He grabbed her hand and started to pull her into the crowd, shouting, "C'mon!" as an indication for Sage to follow. The white cat grinned and pursued them, staying close to Blaze as to avoid getting lost in the mass of mobians. After shoving and shouldering their way through the worst of the dancing mob, they broke through to a more sparsely populated area of the room.

The air was fresher in this corner of the party; the humidity had almost completely dissipated and the temperature was extravagantly cooler. Sage sighed in relief at the change and fixed some of her fur that had become ruffled in their journey across the room. Seeing her grooming, Silver let out a sharp laugh and muttered, "Diva." The cat responded by playfully thumping him on the arm with her tail.

"Hey!" he protested, shrinking away. "Those things are dangerous, you know."

"_Dangerous_?" Blaze scoffed. "You're just jealous because you don't _have one_." As she spoke, she flicked her tail in front of his face and sauntered over to the table that was set up nearby. There was a large punch bowl set upon its tablecloth-covered-surface, what looked to be a 48-pack of soda, and –

"Amy bought _BEER_?" Sage incredulously exclaimed, looking at the bottles in shock. She hurried over to the table and picked one up, examining it to make sure it was real. Once she saw the brand name's letters closer up, she fiercely thrust the bottle out in front of her as if it was poison. "What the _hell_?" she loudly questioned, looking at her two friends as she waved the bottle frantically in the air.

Blaze glanced at the drink and frowned. "I doubt Amy bought that herself, especially because she's not of age yet. _And_ I doubt that she chose to have it. She probably doesn't even know that it's here," she concluded, picking up another bottle and inspecting it carefully.

Silver, meanwhile, rushed over to the table and loomed over the alcohol. "_Beer_?" he said ridiculously. He paused for a moment, Blaze and Sage looking at each other in a worried fashion as a broad smile grew on his face. He then leapt up and thrust his fist in the air, shouting, "YES! BEST PARTY EVER!"

Sage raised her eyebrows at him skeptically while Blaze casually walked up to him and cuffed him over the head. He immediately cowered under her touch and shuffled away from the table. The lilac cat sighed in exasperation and sadly shook her head, turning back to the vast amount of alcohol set upon the table.

"We should probably get rid of this before anyone gets hold of it," she said, motioning with her head toward the hallway that led farther into Amy's house. Sage nodded in response, scooping up a few bottles in her hands and turning toward the hallway –

"HEY GUYS!" The scream that erupted directly in her ear caught her off guard. Sage shrieked in surprise and the bottles fell from her hands, crashing to the ground and shattering on impact. The liquid immediately started spreading across the hardwood floor and under her shoes, almost resembling an ever-growing amber puddle.

She whirled around to see Knuckles staring her straight in the face. He was smiling and holding his hands behind his back, his eyes focused directly on her. She was about to call him an idiot for his destructive appearance beside her, but she noticed something strange about him. His normally stern amethyst gaze was unfocused, his smile looked a little lopsided, and he was leaning precariously toward her, almost like he wasn't able to maintain his balance –

"Are you _drunk_?" she asked him in disbelief.

Knuckles leant back and raised his eyebrows at her. "Me? _Drunk_? No…no way!" he said defiantly.

"If you're not drunk, then why do you have three empty beer bottles in your hands?" Blaze monotonously asked, peering blankly around him at said objects hidden behind his back.

Knuckles' jaw immediately dropped as he saw her staring behind him. He looked at her with his mouth agape for a few moments, his head titled oddly to the side, before violently glancing in another direction. His eyes widened and his mouth contorted into a scowl. "Wha…what the hell?" he muttered.

Confused, Blaze, Sage, and Silver all followed his gaze, only to see…nothing extraordinary. Knuckles evilly laughed at the trick he'd played on them and darted away into the crowd, wildly waving the three beer bottles above his head.

The trio stood in silence as they contemplated what had just happened. As Knuckles fully disappeared into the crowd of dancers, Sage slapped her hand to her forehead, Blaze muttered something about finding Amy and walked away, and Silver took off after the drunken echidna. Sage had no idea whether the hedgehog had followed him in order to help him or to just manipulate the poor guy. She assumed it was the latter.

Now alone, she stood awkwardly by the table, unsure of what to do. After a few seconds of examining the mobians dancing while she thought of options, she turned back to the table and let out a sigh. Judging by the container that was left over, there had been a 24-pack of beer originally sitting on the table. Assuming that whoever brought it here had all the bottles still in the pack, and Knuckles drank three, and she dropped four, then there should have been….seventeen bottles still left on the table. She did a quick count, and much to her distaste, there were only nine left. That either meant eight more mobians had each had a single beer, or maybe one had eight…or maybe it was a different combination out of a huge variety of options. She didn't know. Whatever it was, she _was_ aware that she wanted to dispose of the rest of the drinks, as Blaze had originally intended.

She carefully placed the rest of the beers into her arms, struggling not to drop them. There was already a big enough mess on the floor – she didn't want to shatter nine more bottles and make it even worse.

Cautiously, Sage traveled down the nearby hallway, frequently glancing at the bottles to make sure that they weren't slipping from her grasp. Because she had often been to Amy's house in the last year, she knew where she was going, and decided that it would be best if she dumped the liquid out in the bathroom and hid the actual bottles in the hedgehog's room. That way, they'd be able to dispose of them later when they had the time.

She shuffled down the hallway toward the bathroom, relieved that the door wasn't fully closed. Nudging it open with her foot, she sidled inside and flipped the light switch by pushing her shoulder up against it on the wall. She made haste to put the bottles on the small carpet on the center of the floor, laying them down on their sides so they wouldn't tip over. Once that had successfully been completed, she grabbed one from the ground, popped off its cap, and leant back up to pour its contents into the sink. However, as she turned to the basin, an odd splotch of red caught her eye. There, on the normally pastel-white walls, was what looked to be blood.

Though the spot was small in size, she felt disturbed by its presence and puzzled over how it might've come to be there in the first place. After a few ridiculous murder plots wound their way into her head, she turned from the blood in confusion and distaste and focused on pouring out the beer in the sink.

It didn't take her long to empty the nine bottles and dispose of the caps in the garbage. Once she had finished, she scooped them back up into her arms, turned the light off, and crossed the hall to Amy's room.

Unlike the bathroom, Amy's door was shut, which didn't really surprise Sage. If she were hosting a party, then she wouldn't exactly want people to stumble down the hallway and invade her privacy, either. It was a good move of her to shut her door and keep the partygoers out.

Though she had to turn at an odd angle in order to twist the doorknob the right way, she managed to keep the bottles intact in her arms as she opened the door. The light was off once again, so she repeated the shoulder maneuver she'd done in the bathroom in order to flip it on. Once she'd fully cast her gaze on Amy's room, though, she immediately regretted it.

"_WHAT THE FU – "_ Sage screamed at the two hedgehogs involved in a vigorous kissing session on the bed. At her outburst, the purple male toppled off his partner in surprise and the yellow female screamed, interrupting the cat's exclamation. A very brief, very awkward moment of silence passed between the three of them, and then the male scampered off the ground and bolted out of the room. After she saw him leave, Sage cast her menacing gaze onto the female, silently commanding her to do the same. The hedgehog did so, her cheeks turning a violent red color as she left the room and hurried down the hall.

The cat shook her head in utter disbelief at what had just happened, her heart racing. So much for the "closing the door for privacy" thing – that proved to be completely worthless after what had just happened.

She sighed in exasperation and looked down at her arms, only to find them empty. The bottles weren't there. A surge of anger coursed through her as she realized that they were broken into an incomprehensible number of pieces all over the ground; she must have dropped them when she'd screamed.

Sage dryly looked at the broken amber glass, and then mournfully tilted her face toward the ceiling. She stared at its painted white surface, her breathing coming in shaky gasps, before clutching her hands into fists and shouting a titanic amount of curses at the air.


	6. Of Blood, Mint, and Wit

**Foreword: Firstly, I would really like to thank .Razor-Guardian. for reviewing. Knowing that people actually bother to _read_ this makes me want to continue on with it, and so I will. I know this update is definitely not on a Saturday, like I said I'd be doing, but I just felt the need to update...so I am, lol. I'm on Winter Break right now and I have (mostly) all the time in the world to write :). This will probably be the last time you see me around before Christmas, though, so I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday. I hope you enjoy the chapter - this is where we FINALLY break into the main plot of the story, though it's very brief. And by 'very brief', I mean it's only a few paragraphs long, but I didn't want to start _everything_ in just this chapter. That's what the other ones are for :p  
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here's chapter five.  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

* * *

C H A P T E R - F I V E :  
Of Blood, Mint, and Wit

--

The party was going exceptionally well. There was plenty of food left, thanks to Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles going shopping the previous day, enough music on her playlist to last for an entire week of dancing, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. As she put away the coats of her guests, Amy smiled. Her fears about the party had proven to be utterly trivial – nothing bad had happened so far, and at this rate, she suspected that nothing could ruin a night as good as this.

She finished lying the jackets down and allowed herself a little credit for putting the party together – it had been hard work, and she was happy it had all played out well so far. She'd done a good job, and she was proud of it.

With a renewed bounce in her step, Amy returned to the parlor, grinning and greeting everyone she passed by. Though she'd only been in the main area of the party for a total of five minutes – she had to put away guests' coats, refresh the food, and fix whatever problems arose at random moments – she was already having a fantastic time. The only thing left that would make the night even better would be to find Sonic, so she set out to search for him.

She perused the party for a few minutes, and to her disappointment, could find no sign of him. On her journey, though, she did manage to bump into Rouge, who looked to be having an okay time. The high school graduate was dancing with a black wolf, but upon seeing Amy, quickly left him and pulled her friend out of the crowd. The wolf looked flabbergasted at her abrupt departure, but the batgirl didn't notice or care in the slightest.

"Amy!" Rouge exclaimed, once they had left the midst of the dancing. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," the hedgehog nonchalantly replied. "I'm looking for Sonic, but that's it. Have you seen him?" There was an eager gleam in her eye as she spoke. Rouge grinned at her expression and then looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"Wow, I actually haven't tonight. That's weird," she said, looking at Amy with her eyebrows raised. "Usually it's not hard to find him...he always likes to be the center of attention." They both laughed at her comment and Amy regretfully nodded.

"Okay, well, thanks anyway," she said. The fact that Rouge hadn't seen Sonic, either, made her feel a little more downcast. After all, the bat usually knew everything that was going on and who was involved with it; if she wasn't knowledgeable of Sonic's current whereabouts in the room, then maybe he wasn't even at the party. Amy also couldn't recall taking his coat – which either meant that he didn't bring one, or like she'd previously thought, he wasn't at the party.

Just as a sinking feeling gripped her at the thought and she turned to leave, Rouge stopped her departure.

"You know, I haven't seen Knucklehead around here either," she said, trying to lighten Amy's mood. It was easy to tell that the pink hedgehog's prior happiness had been dampened. "Maybe we could both look for them?" she suggested, smoothly gesturing towards the rest of the room.

Amy forced a small smile and nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. Though she was honestly glad to have Rouge's help, she still wondered if Sonic was actually at the party or not. It bothered her, not knowing for sure.

The bat playfully rested her arm on her friend's shoulders. "Aw, c'mon," she said cheerily, "we'll find him. Don't worry about it. After all, you don't wanna be looking sad when he sees you, hmm?"

Amy rolled her eyes and genuinely grinned. "Okay, you've convinced me. Let's go," she declared, Rouge's arm falling off her shoulders as she walked forward.

Letting out a brisk laugh, Rouge quickly scanned the crowd around her for any sight of Sonic before she headed after Amy. She knew he was probably doing his best to avoid his number-one-fan, but the bat would fix that shortly. She had the best tracking skills known to her kind - not even the world's fastest hedgehog could forever escape from her sight.

* * *

The hedgehog in question was utterly oblivious to Amy's attempts to find him. He was oblivious to the realization that he was _being_ oblivious, as well - mainly because coherent thought was something that seemed like it was part of a past lifetime. He knew he was having a hell of a good time though, despite how everyone he ran into at the party looked really..._weird_. The colors of their clothing and their hair and their eyes all looked like they were blurring together into a big, incomprehensible mess each time he glanced at someone. The situation was kind of freaking him out, even though he found it to be inordinately hilarious at the same time.

Nearby, Tails was watching as Sonic strangely looked at each new person he passed and broke into bouts of hysterical laughter after they'd gone. Concern was written all over the fox's face; he was worried something bad was going to happen to the hedgehog, and if it did, he would never be able to forgive himself for it.

"So...how much alcohol has he had?" a new voice asked. Tails turned to see Shadow casually leaning against the wall beside him, his arms folded across his chest. His eyes - which looked to be filled with mirth - were focused on Sonic, who was making a total fool of himself at the edge of the crowd.

Tails sighed. "Eight bottles," he stated guiltily.

"Eight?" Shadow inquired, looking at the fox in curiosity. His crimson-colored eyes were slightly wide with surprise.

Tails nodded. "Yeah, and I don't even know how the alcohol _got_ here! We didn't buy any at the store yesterday, and I _know_ Amy isn't an advocate of it, so it's a mystery to me," he said, looking at the ground in a downcast fashion. "And I don't know what to do now. I tried to get him to stop, but he told me it was a 'Celebratory thing' and that it didn't really matter, but I think things have gone too far. I'm embarrassed _for _him."

Shadow smirked. "Just let him be a fool. He brought this upon himself, and he'll later have to deal with the consequences," he said knowledgeably.

The fox looked at him worriedly. "But what if he gets hurt? What'll I do then? It'll be _my fault_."

"It'll be no one's fault but his own," Shadow corrected, seriously glancing at Tails from the corner of his eye. "Stop blaming yourself."

The younger mobian sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right, but - _oh my god_," he said hurriedly, his eyes suddenly widening. Shadow interestedly followed his line of sight, immediately discovering why Tails looked so shocked.

The hedgehog bared his teeth in a wide smile as he saw Sonic dancing with another guy...and very scandalously, at that. Tails blushed furiously and shamefully buried his face in his hands while Shadow burst into a fit of laughter. He threw his head back and shook with mirth at his rival's ridiculous antics.

Tails was beginning to contemplate whether or not he should leave the party when Sonic happily yelled, "Oh _yeah_!" Though he was utterly embarrassed to do so, he ripped his face from his hands with a tentative determination. The world-famous hedgehog's reputation would be tarnished if word got out about this racy, drunken incident, so he had to stop it before it progressed any further. The two-tailed kitsune stalked across the room, grabbed his friend's wrist, and wrenched him away from the cross-dressing rabbit he was having a particularly good time with. Sonic slurred something incomprehensible in protest, but let himself be dragged along, much to the fox's relief.

Shadow laughed even harder as Tails set Sonic down on a nearby couch. Drunk beyond comprehension, he lazily bobbed his head to the beat of the music as he lay awkwardly on its leather surface.

Knowing that Sonic was as safe as he could be for now, Tails returned to being absolutely mortified. He groaned in exasperation and sat down, leaning his head against the back of the wall and staring desperately up at the ceiling. His blue eyes were distraught and his entire expression was strained; he had absolutely _no_ idea what to do about Sonic.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he vaguely heard Amy's voice emanate from somewhere nearby. "I just keep wondering if he's here or not - oh!" Tails' eyes widened in panic and he leapt up from the floor, determined to not let Amy find Sonic in such a condition.

However, as he braced himself against the wall and tried to puff his chest out in confidence, he realized that his efforts were totally fruitless when he saw Amy catch sight of Sonic lying on the couch in a stupor. An inkling of hope rose up in his stomach as she smiled at him - maybe she wouldn't notice that he was totally drunk?

An instant later, his hope shriveled up and died as Amy went closer to the hedgehog and scrutinized his appearance. She turned away from him with a stern look on her face, and that's when Tails knew the situation had taken a turn for the worst.

He waited with bated breath, vigorously praying that Amy wouldn't have a fit. The situation, once again, worked opposite to his wishes as Rouge leaned over Sonic and _tsk_ed. She jabbed a nonchalant finger toward him and asked, "Who got _him_ tanked?"

All the color flushed from Tails' cheeks as Amy turned and stonily glared at him. "He's _drunk_?" she said through clamped teeth. The fox withered under her gaze and shakily nodded, not wanting to lie. "_How_ is Sonic drunk?" she asked. Though her voice was calm, Tails knew that she was prone to have an outburst at any second - that's the way it had always been when she was incredibly angry.

He wasn't sure of what to say. There was no way to make the situation sound any better than it actually was without lying to Amy, which he wasn't going to do. She always found him out, anyway. He finally settled on giving her an abridged version of the story. "It's just that there was beer here somehow and Sonic found it and had some while I wasn't watching and then started acting all crazy," he squeaked, trying to get the words out as fast as possible.

In any other situation, he wouldn't be acting like this. He wouldn't be _this_ positively, unfathomably scared if he was arguing anyone else, but Amy...was intimidating. Plus, she was his friend, and she didn't really let go of grudges very easily, either. If she was mad at someone, she would stay mad for a long time...which was definitely not very appealing to him.

Added onto that was the fact that Amy was particularly good at bashing people with her hammer, and that was a threat in itself. He did _not_ want to be caught on her bad side, so he had told her the truth, despite how scared he was to do so.

A newfound anger seemed to fill Amy's eyes - her gaze had intensified as soon as Tails had mentioned the alcohol. "There's _BEER_ here?!" she screeched, flailing her arms out beside her. She'd finally given herself over to her frustration, and Tails regretted telling her what he had once he realized that.

Meanwhile, Shadow, who had stopped laughing as soon as Amy arrived, looked at her expressionlessly. "Well, we can't really be sure if there's any left - Faker drank the majority, if not all of the alcohol," he commented airily. Tails could easily tell that he was more than enjoying Sonic's intoxicated condition. Amy, though, didn't really seem to agree with Shadow. She stalked up to him and fearlessly pointed one of her fingers at his chest.

"You," she addressed, staring him accusingly in the face, "shut up. You're just acting like an - "

" - ASSHOLE! DAMMIT!" Amy's venomous words were interrupted by a sudden explosion of swearing from the nearby hallway. She peered, irritated, down it just as another random exclamation of, "WHY ME!" resounded. A few seconds passed as she waited to hear anything else, but nothing happened. Briefly satisfied, she turned away from the scene and started to chastise Shadow again, only to find him gone. Bewildered, she whirled around and saw him jogging down the hallway toward the commotion.

Just as she was about to chase after him in a frenzy, Rouge mumbled in her ear that prevented her from leaving. At her words, Amy turned toward the couch that Sonic was resting on and, much to her displeasure, saw that the hedgehog was looking rather sick

"Oh, great," she muttered, tiredly slapping her hand to her forehead.

* * *

Shadow traveled down the hallway, relieved to be out of reach of Amy's wrath. It wasn't as though he couldn't _deal_ with her - he just didn't want to. As usual, not much of importance - or anything he felt was actually worthwhile - had happened that night, and he didn't feel like sticking around and becoming an outlet for Amy's anger. The only good thing that had, so far, occurred was Sonic getting wasted, and he didn't want _her_ ruining his fun. The girl should've been grateful he even decided to come to the party - he had multiple other things he could've done instead of attend. This stupid celebration had barely any worth in comparison.

He finally reached the doorway from which the shouts had originated and peered inside, only to collide with someone leaving the room. He pulled his head back in both pain and surprise at the impact, watching as a white mass fell to the ground before him. He immediately recognized it as a cat, what with her pointed ears and elongated tail, but there was something odd about her. Mixed in with the scent of mint that was issuing from her fur was the overpowering smell of blood.

He narrowed his eyes at the all-too-familiar scent and examined the girl for any sign of physical damage, but could see none from the position she was crouched in. She then peered up at him with surprised, evergreen eyes and he remained silent, watching her emotionlessly.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, smiling sheepishly. There was a faint blush on her cheeks, and Shadow couldn't help but wonder if _this_ was really the person who'd been screaming obscenities only moments before. She seemed more docile than violent, that was for sure.

"It's fine," he responded. "Besides, you're the one that's on the floor." He offered a hand to help her up and she hesitated for a moment, seeming contemplative, before she finally reached out and let him pull her up. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered with such a trivial act of kindness, but Sonic's misfortune had put him in a better mood than usual.

"Thanks." She grinned, holding her other arm behind her back in an awkward manner. The two stood in silence for a moment; Shadow peered at her curiously, still trying to find the source of the scent of blood, while she looked intently down at the floor. He knew that she was hesitating again, but wasn't sure why. The answer came to him when she looked up from the floor and meekly smiled.

"Would you mind helping me with something?" she asked. "I know it's kind of weird to be asking a total stranger, but I don't want my friends to freak out about it." She laughed nervously.

"And you don't mind freaking me out?" he bantered. The girl gave him a shaky smile in response. "Does this have anything to do with your arm?" he inquired, motioning toward the limb she was hiding behind her back.

She looked surprised. "You knew?"

"You reek of blood," he said simply.

"Well, since you put it so eloquently," she replied, grinning and removing her arm from behind her back. Shadow intently watched as she held it up before her chest, observing the jagged cuts messily drawn across her skin and the dark crimson blood running steadily from them.

He continued to examine her, the hallway around them completely silent while he did so. The girl's composure seemed to slowly decompose under his gaze – her once brave expression was visibly giving way to doubt and nervousness.

As his eyes fell to examine the cuts on her wrist, she strongly said, "It's not what you think." Shadow, who had only bothered to speculate about the possibility of her doing this to _herself_ for only a brief moment, met her gaze.

He ignored what she'd said – he knew, just by looking at the nature of the cuts, that she couldn't have done that alone – and motioned to the bathroom across the hall. "You should get cleaned up," he directed. The cat hesitated for yet another moment before finally slinking into the room, flipping the light on with her good arm and kneeling down over the side of the bathtub. He followed her and stood leisurely against the doorway, observing her from the corner of his eye and angling his body toward the open expanse of the hallway.

"Acting as sentry?" she playfully asked, trying to lighten the mood. He didn't understand why she was being so outgoing with him; if he'd been in this sort of predicament, then he definitely would not have disclosed any information to a stranger. Her actions puzzled him.

"I suppose you could say that," he answered, casually glancing down the hall for any sign of life. There was none, but the party's music was still incredibly audible. He wondered how Amy could've gotten away with the music being this loud and not yet have had a visit by the police. Maybe she'd requested a permit…? Or maybe it was just because she was the famous Amy Rose. He suspected that it was the latter option, being well acquainted with modern society and the disgusting, material nature of it.

He was ripped from his train of thought by the sound of running water, and looked over to the cat. She was adjusting the knobs for water and occasionally testing it with her hand. He started to turn away again when a sharp exclamation of "Ow!" issued from behind him, and he looked back over to the girl. A refined amusement filled his eyes as he watched her place her injured arm directly under the water pouring from the faucet, wincing in pain.

"That wasn't what I meant by 'clean up'," he said, leaving his watch-post and strolling into the bathroom. He swiped a few tissues sitting atop a cabinet and walked up to the tub. "Here," he said, handing them to her.

She took the tissues and looked at them blankly, unsure of what to do.

"You wanted my _help_ with this, didn't you?" he emphasized, growing impatient.

She blushed and turned back to the tub, taking one of the tissues and dipping it in the water. As she gently dabbed her cuts with it, she asked, "So are you a friend of Amy's?"

He frowned and turned back to the doorway to check activity in the hall. It was still empty. "Does it matter?" he asked, determinedly keeping his gaze fixed away from her.

"I was just asking," she said. "You don't really seem like the type for parties."

"And you didn't seem like the type who would bellow obscenities in a deserted corner of a house," he smoothly replied. "But now I'm re-evaluating my assumption."

She was silent, then, and continued to clean her wounds with the tissues. "So I was really _that_ loud?" she queried, her voice much quieter than before.

"Enough so that I bothered to come down here and see if you were dying." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, his arms folded over his chest.

"Well, we're all dying anyway," she pointed out. "But I accidentally dropped a bunch of beer bottles and they all shattered. I was pissed." She laughed.

At her words, Shadow turned from the door and faced her, his eyebrow raised curiously. "You were drinking?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"What? No!" she protested, whirling around to face him. Her cheeks were tinged with a deep red and she looked incredibly flustered. "I was pretty sure Amy didn't want the beer to be here, so I dumped it out in the sink and went to hide the bottles, but then _that_ happened and - "

Her explanation suddenly twisted into a shrill scream as an explosion tore through their midst. A torrent of fire and debris was blasted in their direction from the hallway, and Shadow dove back into the bathroom on instinct. He barked at the girl to get down, but saw she'd already pressed herself flat against the floor, her eyes squeezed shut. His cry had been useless, anyway. The racket of the explosion was so deafening that his words were drowned out in its wake.

A large chunk of white wall from the hallway careened in through the door and broke the bathroom mirror, the glass raining down atop Shadow along with the rest of the debris. As broken wood from the walls came free and unceasingly pelted him, he covered his head with his arms and violently cursed himself for not bringing his chaos emerald. He had assumed that this little get-together Amy had taken so long to plan would be totally harmless, but a sharp pain that suddenly erupted at the top of his forehead told him otherwise.

He screamed out in anger at his stupidity, his words hopelessly lost in the sound of the blast.


	7. Escape

**Foreword: Happy New Year, everyone! I know it was officially 2009 a few days ago, but I figured that it's still early enough in the year to wish everyone a good one. I can't believe it's already '09 already, honestly. Kinda sad. But anyway...Thanks to everyone who has actually bothered to read this, especially Razor_Guardian for actually reviewing each chapter xD. No matter what people say, I'm pretty positive that reviews actually help spur writers on to finish what they've started. Who doesn't like feedback on things they've created? Apparently, we all do, or else we wouldn't be posting our stuff here on the site, lol. Anyway...enough of my rambling. In this next chapter, the scene is set, and things are sloooowwwly put into motion. I could've had more in the chapter, but I like where it leaves off, and I decided to keep it that way for now. This is still only the beginning, folks...there's so much more to be done :p  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

**

* * *

**

C H A P T E R - S I X :  
Escape

--

His heart was racing. The blast had managed to surprise him, but he was already wondering about what had caused it. He hadn't sensed anything wrong in the entire time he was here, so _what had happened_? It had to have come from an outside source. Eggman?

His thoughts passed in and out of his mind so fast that he could barely comprehend them. He looked over to the girl, his crimson gaze analyzing the wreckage of the room. His ears were ringing. The worst of the blast was over, but the walls were still crumbling and Shadow was on guard for another explosion. He had already been surprised once before - he wasn't about to let it happen again.

For the most part, the bathroom was in ruins. Most of the debris from the hallway had been blown in by the force of the explosion and were cluttered on the floor. The door was hanging awkwardly on one of its hinges, slanted inward toward the interior of the room. The glass from the broken mirror was scattered on the ground all around him, and a splatter of red was on the floor nearby. He immediately recognized it as blood, and realized that's why his forehead felt odd. Some shrapnel must have nicked him when he had dove into the bathroom.

Though he could feel his fur becoming quickly soaked by the blood streaming from his forehead, he knew the damage wasn't serious. He was functioning perfectly fine, and his head was, for the most part, clear. Forehead wounds always looked worse than the damage they actually entailed, and he knew that well.

He wiped away the blood clouding his vision and looked over to the girl again. She was warily looking up at him from her crouched place on the floor, her eyes filled with horror. Her body was entirely still - Shadow thought she looked like she'd been petrified.

"Are you alright?" he asked, noting the blood that caked the sides of her face and neck.

She nodded. "Yes...but my face kinda stings," she said, her voice oddly calm. She opened her mouth to speak again, but paused mid-thought, as though she was contemplating something. "And I'm fucking freaked out," she finally added. There was a little more liveliness in her comment, at which Shadow felt relieved. That meant she wouldn't be as big a burden if worst came to worst and they had to pull something dangerous in order to escape. Escape from what, however, he didn't know.

"We need to go," he told her quietly. He could barely hear himself talk because of the ringing in his ears, but felt it was imperative to keep his presence inconspicuous. Only vaguely did he realize that this was his instinct kicking in, but did not know for what reason it was doing so.

She nodded and started up off the floor with a newfound haste. Rubble slid off of her and clattered to the floor, causing Shadow to wince.

"Be quiet!" he hissed. The cat shot him an apologetic glance before slowing her progress and carefully standing up. When she had reached her full height, she stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do of herself. Her brow was creased in worry, and she observed the room with a hesitant sort of dread.

While she busied herself with observing their surroundings, Shadow nimbly twisted out from under the plaster that had pinned him to the floor. Once he was free, he quietly stood up and started toward the doorway, making sure to step on the rubble-free spots of the floor...or at least the spots that were as rubble-free as they could get. The explosion from the hall had literally coated the floor in dust, broken wood, and plaster. It was hard to find areas that were less decorated with rubble, but he managed, and made it safely to the doorway.

The oaken door was hanging sickly from its top hinge, its movement prohibited by large chunks of wall holding its bottom in place. Along with the load of plaster at the bottom of the doorway, though, there was also a gap. It wasn't at all large enough for either Shadow or the girl to fit through, but he would be able to see what the hell was going on in the hallway.

He crouched down and cautiously leaned toward the gap, trying to be as careful as possible. He wasn't scared in the slightest, but he also didn't know what had caused the blast in the hallway, which was the annoying part. If someone had the nerve to blast apart Amy Rose's house in the midst of hosting a party at which Shadow the Hedgehog, supposed-to-be world annihilator, was attending, then they were either dumb as hell or they believed that they had the strength to take him on...which also entailed that they were dumb as hell.

From what he could see through the gap, there was still a fair amount of dust floating about in the hallway. The particles slightly impaired his vision, but they weren't too terrible of a nuisance; combined with the darkness blanketing the hall, though, it was difficult for him to make anything out except for the faint outlines of doorways and some rubble cluttering the floor. Like what had happened in the bathroom, the lights in the hall had been short-circuited, which didn't surprise him in the least. It was just incredibly annoying.

It didn't appear as though there was any form of life in the hallway. Whether he should have been pleased or worried at this, he wasn't sure, but he at least knew there wasn't any danger close by. The scents of steel and sulfur wafted in through the gap, and he turned to the cat with a new reassurance.

"Someone detonated a bomb beside the house," he murmured, looking over to where the girl had been standing before. He was confused to find that she wasn't there, but then realized where she had ended up as he felt a brief shifting of air behind him. The girl had somehow managed to cross the room, unbeknownst to him, and settle herself beside him. He turned to her and looked at her with a nonchalant air, watching as her sage-green eyes narrowed in confusion.

"But why?" she asked, keeping the volume of her voice level with Shadow's. It seemed as though his demand for her to keep quiet had held strong with her.

Shadow slightly shrugged. "That's irrelevant right now. We need to get out of here." He stood up and made to move toward the blocked doorway, but stopped and looked over his shoulder at the girl.

"What's your name?" he inquired.

"Sage," she replied smoothly.

"I'm Shadow," he responded, directing his gaze back toward the blocked doorway. He merely observed it for a moment before suddenly leaping into the air and violently kicking the mass of rubble that rested there with his foot. The obstruction crumbled with a sharp _BANG_ and the debris clattered against the opposite wall in the hallway.

"What the hell happened to being quiet?!" Sage exclaimed, looking at the hedgehog incredulously.

"There's no need anymore," he said, motioning further down the hallway. A large ruckus comprised entirely of screaming had erupted from the main part of the house, and Sage paled when she realized this.

"Were they bombed?" she asked frantically, wringing her hands in worry. Shadow ignored her question, not really knowing the answer himself, and stepped through the now-open doorway and into the hall.

Though there was a great amount of dust still blanketing the air, he could better decipher what exactly had happened in the hallway. The first thing that caught his attention was the site of the blast - after all, the jagged, gaping hole in the wall wasn't the least bit inconspicuous.

The edges of the hole were severely charred and appeared to be smoking, from what he could see. He traced the area of wall that no longer existed up a little farther and discovered that part of the ceiling had been blasted away, too. The night sky was plainly there for him to see, with a handful of stars casting their dim light down upon him.

He stepped forward and peered over the pile of rubble resting at the base of the blast area, observing the blackened ground outside of the hall. Like the walls, the ground was incredibly charred, but it was producing a much greater amount of smoke. Shadow couldn't see the remains of any technology that could've possibly been used here, but knew that this was where the bomb had been set off.

Judging by the fairly small amount of damage that had been caused to the house (in comparison to attacks he'd been through before), the explosive couldn't have been packed with much firepower, nor was it terribly big. If it had been a sizeable sort of thing, he wouldn't have gotten off so lucky, with just a bleeding forehead. Though it would have been a shame to have the Ultimate Life Form die in a mere explosion, that would've been the case had the bomb been any larger.

He turned away from the hole only to see Sage determinedly making her way down the hall. Farther ahead, he could hear the frantic rustle of people moving about and their terrified screaming, but he couldn't see them. The darkness, along with the dust, blanketed everything and hindered his vision.

He watched the dark outline of the girl go, letting her leave without a protest. She wasn't his problem. If she wanted to find her friends, that was her choice. As for him, he was getting out before anything else destructive happened. He knew that he would eventually end up finding Amy and the others later, even if Sonic was incredibly intoxicated and didn't know what the fuck was going on. Tails was a smart kid; he'd get them out of there safely. Plus, Rouge was with them too, so they were assured a relatively harm-free escape.

He started out of the house with haste, analytically observing his surroundings so he wouldn't be caught by surprise again. He only managed to get one foot out of the house when a sharp ringing stopped him in his tracks.

It was a high-pitched buzzing - faint, very faint, but still there. He at first thought it was just the ringing in his ears acting up, but then realized that it was at a higher frequency than the one that had been caused by the hallway explosion. A moment later, the sound increased in volume - the change was only the tiniest indicator, but it gave him more than enough incentive to whirl back around into the house and dart down the hallway.

"Stop!" he barked, racing up to Sage and fiercely grabbing her by the arm. She hissed in pain, and he emotionlessly realized that he must've grabbed her injured limb. "We have to go," he told her urgently, tugging her back down toward the original blast site.

She jerked away from him, not cooperating with his request. She stopped in her tracks, but Shadow was more than strong enough to keep dragging her along, albeit a lot slower than if she had been running. "No!" she protested. "My friends are back there!"

He immediately tightened his grip on her arm and thrust his face toward hers, baring his teeth in a snarl. "You will be too, only in an incomprehensible amount of pieces," he said darkly, pulling on her arm again. She dug her heels into the floor, looking at him arrogantly. It was when she fiercely shook her head that he realized trying to persuade her was a lost cause.

He threw her arm away from him with disgust. "So be it," he said, turning around and stalking away. He had only managed to walk a few paces when Sage's voice echoed out from behind him.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice hesitant. The frequency continued to increase even as Shadow stopped walking. The sound was almost deafening, now; it made him want to grind his teeth into his jaw and rip the skin from his face. It was worse than the horrible screeching of nails on a chalkboard, and he was merely amazed by the fact that the girl hadn't yet noticed its sinister presence.

"Are you deaf?" he said tonelessly. "There's another bomb." He then continued to walk, this time at a little brisker pace. That was all he would say. He had tried helping the girl out of the sick, twisted kindness of his backwards heart, but she had refused his offer. It was up to her to decide her own fate, now. He would play no more part in the matter.

He could tell by the volume and pitch of the frequency that the bomb was reaching its breaking point. In only a few moments would it explode and thus destroy whatever lay in its path, wherever in the house that may be. Shadow couldn't detect its origin to the exact meter, but he was sure it was somewhere near the main area of the house. Too bad for all those mobians clustered there. They didn't know what was coming.

_Maybe Faker will get some of what he deserves_, he mused to himself, stepping out of the hall and into Amy's backyard. The night air was unusually still, and he couldn't see much of anything because of the setup of Amy's house. There was a wide array of trees all settled in the yard, making for a nice shady area under other circumstances, but not now. At the present moment, they merely served to obstruct his vision.

The sound of footsteps suddenly came to his attention and he realized that the girl must've taken his words to heed and was rushing to get out of the house. In a matter of seconds he heard her take a flying leap and land beside him on the grass, her breath coming in short gasps and her eyes panicked.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, another deafening explosion ripped through the air. A blast of fire spiraled through the hallway behind them and Sage shrieked in fear, covering her head with her hands. Shadow didn't bother to even flinch as the heat caressed his back fur and whisked around them; the main danger had been contained in the hallway, so there was nothing to fear...for the two of them, at least.

There was a deathly moment of silence after the blast that caught his attention, though, and he curiously turned back toward the house. Had that bomb actually managed to kill everyone inside? He highly doubted it.

The sudden, anguished screaming that filled the air confirmed his thoughts. Nope, didn't kill all of them.


	8. Drunken Obstruction

**Foreword: Hi everyone. I know it hasn't been a full week yet, but I _just_ finished writing this chapter and I _really_ wanted to post it...so I did, lol. I have no self-restraint whatsoever xD. Anyway. As usual, I'd like to thank those who reviewed (well...the _person_ who reviewed) for actually bothering to give feedback. It really means a lot to me, so thank you ^^ lol. And to those of you who are just inconspicuously READING the fic - I never thought I'd have to say this, but...even if it's just a three-word response, it would still be totally kickass if you reviewed. So...yeah...  
I'll just give you guys the briefing on this chapter, now.  
So in this installment of _Obsidian_, we touch up on Amy's experience through the ordeal. I couldn't just leave her and the others' fates hanging, could I? hah. Well, I hope you guys like the chapter...and really quickly: this story's first DEATH happens in the next update, so be prepared :p. This _is_ a tragedy fic, after all, so...yeah, there are gonna be people dying. If you guys don't necessarily like that, then sorry, but this isn't the story for you. _BUT!_ If anyone can successfully guess who will die, then I'll either:**

**A) Give your fan-character a brief appearance in the fic (they won't be a main character, sorry). By brief, I mean they'll appear in a chapter and either escape alive or die a horrible death. You can pick what happens, I guess...but it depends on what kind of mood I'm in, lol.  
or  
B) Allow you to request one specific action/thing/whatever for a character to do, and I'll write it. Of course, we'll probably have to discuss that, because I'm not having anyone do anything totally ludicrous that wouldn't agree with the general flow of the story. For example, I'm not having Shadow, Knuckles, and Sonic go on a sudden spree where they become obsessed with daisies and kissing each other. Keep it reasonable, lol.**

**ANYWAY, this foreword has definitely become long enough, so I'll leave you with two last things:  
1. The character that dies has already been involved in the fic ("involved" meaning they've been directly mentioned or have actually _been_ in the fic).  
2. You can only guess ONE character. To make it easier, I'll tell you: it's not Sage.**

**If someone actually _wins_ (especially considering the fact that people barely even review this lol), then I'll make sure to announce that in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.**

PS: Lots more swearing in this chapter :p  


**

* * *

**

C H A P T E R - S E V E N :  
Drunken Obstruction

--

Shadow listened to the screaming for a few moments longer and then turned his back on the house, peering at the dark clump of trees with analytical eyes. Because of their closeness and the overall thickness of the foliage, he could barely make out the outline of the street beyond. From what he could see, though, the street looked clear enough. No immediate danger was present.

From beside him, Sage had risen from the ground and was staring him in the face with unadulterated determination. He only met her fierce gaze from the corner of his eye, not bothering to turn his head.

"Don't you think we should help them?" she demanded, curling her hands into fists. "They're _dying_, and we're just standing here doing jack shi - "

He quickly held up his hand, signaling her to be quiet. She fell silent, but looked flustered and angry at his sudden command.

The two stood there, wordless, while the agonized screaming continued on from the confines of the house. Shadow's ear twitched, but otherwise he stood completely still, lost in thought. It was only a few seconds later when he heard it. The frequency was back.

Putting his hand back down to his side, he looked to the girl, who had buried her face in her palms. "Let's go," he said, starting to walk toward the trees that fringed the edge of the yard.

Sage looked up from her hands, her face pale and her eyes distraught. She glanced back to the house, where smoke was issuing from the hole in the wall, and returned her gaze to Shadow's retreating form, silently deciding to follow him.

He stopped as soon as he reached the trees, where his figure was totally swallowed by the darkness. Sage easily made her way over to him, stopping at his side and blankly staring at the street a few yards before them.

"There's another bomb," she said surely. She turned to Shadow with an odd expression. His crimson eyes seemed to almost glow in the night, what with his fur easily blending in with the scenery. "I hear it now. I just blew it off as nothing before..."

He didn't say anything in response. The girl had finally come to terms with what was happening, and he didn't find it necessary to break what little confidence she had left. With a simple nod of his head to acknowledge what she had spoken, he stepped through the trees and onto the street, warily glancing around for any signs of activity.

Much to his displeasure, it was totally devoid of life. ...Odd. He would've thought that Amy's neighbors would have at least ventured out of their homes to see what the fuck had _exploded_ at her house.

Something was definitely wrong.

"It's too quiet," Sage mumbled, hesitantly stepping onto the street. She craned her head around in interest, paying close attention to the handful of cars that were parked alongside the curb.

Behind them, the third explosion finally sounded with a loud _BANG_. Sage flinched at its sudden appearance, swiveling her ears toward the noise in rapt attention. There was a longer silence this time, then a faint sobbing started coming from the house. Only seconds had passed when the bloodcurdling screaming started up again. Shadow was fairly sure it had lessened in strength compared to before, but didn't bother to comment on it. The fact was obvious enough, judging by the morbid look that overtook Sage's face and the jerky way she turned her ears back around, away from the horrible yelling.

He then proceeded to cross the street, motioning for her to follow with a casual twist of his hand. His journey across the paved ground was completely silent, and he was virtually invisible to everything else because of the lack of contrast between his dark pelt and the pitch-black sky. Despite his near-invisibility, though, he was still on high alert for any possible danger. He was deadly determined to _not_ screw up again, like what had happened with the first explosion in the house. One wrong move and he could end up dead.

They made it to the other side unseen, passing by a darkened streetlamp; even the city-powered lights were out. Surely the incident at Amy's house hadn't short-circuited the entire city? The idea was ludicrous, and he tossed it away as soon as it passed through his head. There had to be another cause.

The situation was an easy one to maintain his resolve in, but the stillness of the air was unsettling, nonetheless. No breeze swept over quills, the only identifiable scent was that of the grass beneath his paws, and everything was eerily silent. The scene _reeked_ of danger, but he couldn't _sense_ any, and that was the problem. If he didn't _know_ what was going on, then how could he possibly hope to defend himself against it?

* * *

To Amy, it seemed like all hell had broken loose in a mere matter of seconds.

The great party she had actually succeeded in hosting had been blown apart, literally, without warning. Now _everything_ was in absolute chaos.

Shadow had only been gone for a few minutes when there was a sudden explosion that wracked the house and obliterated the electricity. Everything had been plunged into total darkness, the music stopped working, and the entire crowd of partiers abruptly halted their dancing. An eerie silence pervaded the room for a split second, in which a swift panic overtook Amy. _What had happened_?

That was when someone started screaming. The sound was high-pitched, incredibly so, and was the sole trigger that led to further disaster. Whether the rest of the crowd followed the instigator's example because they were equally frightened or were just angry with the loss of the music, Amy didn't know. Either way, she knew something had most definitely exploded in or near her house. Like _that_ sole factor wasn't enough to make her scared, it was also unknown to her as to why or _how_ it happened, which only amplified her fear beyond rational thought.

A slight anger then slithered its way into her heart, spawned from her irrational fear and jumbled thoughts. _Who cares about _what_ happened_, it vehemently hissed. _How dare someone have the nerve to do something so rash!_

She was at a loss for words, overwhelmed by the emotions raging within her. Frozen in place by her fear, she stood motionless on the edge of the dance floor. She didn't want to make a wrong move and get her own head blown off, or much less anything else for that matter.

Then, she was violently pushed to the side as the crowd surged forward, and that was when her anger took hold.

She felt like screaming so violently that her throat would tear from its guttural intensity, and wanted to throw a scarily-accurate punch upon the bastard who'd had the nerve to run into her. She was outright _pissed_, but merely managed to settle on grinding her teeth together, desperately seeking some sort of outlet for her frustration.

She cast a swift glare to the offender, on the verge of throwing the first punch when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Rouge?" Amy queried, sharply turning around. The batgirl was only a few feet away, tightly holding onto Knuckles' upper-arm like he was a misbehaving child. The hedgehog couldn't distinctly decipher his facial features, but could easily tell it was him just by his bulky outline.

"Yeah, follow me!" Rouge called, disappearing into the crowd. Amy started after her, taking care to forcefully shove the unlucky mobians who crossed into her path.

She followed Rouge's dark outline to the edge of the room, her stomach boiling with fear and anger. Everyone screaming and writhing around her did nothing at all to help improve her mood.

She finally emerged from the most chaotic part of the crowd with a scowl on her face. The guests were all frantically trying to locate an exit, and everything was a mess. Some had tripped and fallen in their sloppy attempts to leave, while others had actually started fighting with one another. The sounds of onlookers cheering on the participants of such fights were clearly audible to Amy, who couldn't understand _how the hell_ people could be purposefully hurting each other in the current situation. Didn't they know what was going _on_?

A small sense of relief quelled the anger bubbling in her as she saw Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic all huddled against the nearby wall. She jogged briskly over to them, happy to have found them before anything tragic had the chance to happen...other than the blast, of course.

As she neared them, what looked to be a break in the wall drew her attention. The dark silver handle-like object on its side appeared to almost be floating in the darkness. A _door_?

Amy was fairly sure it led to the kitchen, but through all the chaos and with her heart nearly beating in her throat, she couldn't be positive. Her thoughts were racing and her mind was a jumbled, confused mess. The locations of everything in her house, including doors, seemed unable to come to her while she was in such a panicked state. It almost felt like she was forgetting, blindly fishing for the memory even as it floated away.

She directed her attention to the door and yanked it open, swiftly motioning the others inside. Rouge went first, forcefully dragging Knuckles along, and Tails followed in quick succession, struggling to support all of Sonic's drunken weight on his shoulder.

As soon as they had passed through, Amy did the same and brought the door with her, slamming it shut as she stepped into the new area.

The first thing she noticed upon entering the room was that her fluttering, disconnected thoughts had been right. That door _did_ lead to the kitchen, and now she was standing in it, hardly able to see the black-marble counters that lined the room. She could, however, see her friends standing nearby in a tense silence. She could still plainly hear the entire ruckus going on in the other room, but they were closed off from that now, in their own, _quiet_ world. It felt weird, almost alien, to not hear people screaming directly in her ear...but it was definitely a welcomed change.

A twisted smile curved her lips as she noticed this. There was absolutely _no chaos_ or fighting in this room whatsoever, and despite the thick tension pervading the air, she felt...happy? Or was she relieved? She couldn't tell, but she knew she felt better, regardless.

"What's with all the screamin'?" Sonic sloppily asked through the silence. "And why the hell are we in here?! The party, _obviously_, is in the _other_ room."

Tails, who was still supporting him on his shoulder, cast him a worried glance as the hedgehog sharply lifted his head and accidentally collided with the bottom of the overhanging cabinets. Accompanying the dull thud made when his head smacked the edge of the wooden structure was an abrupt exclamation of "Ow," and Sonic instinctively clutched his head and let out a pained moan.

From a few feet away, Knuckles chuckled. "Idiot," he commented, looking at Sonic as though he was inferior.

Huffing and rolling her eyes at their childish antics, Rouge relinquished her hold on the echidna's arm just as Sonic shot him a dirty look and called him a stupid neanderthal. The bat kindly grabbed Tails by the collar and brought him over to Amy, mumbling under her breath about "leaving the dunderheads to fend for themselves."

Without the sturdy aid of Tails' shoulder to help support him, Sonic stumbled and nearly crumpled to the ground, but managed to grab hold of the edge of the countertop at the last moment. Knuckles laughed at his expense once again, and the two then engaged in a staring match, their eyes narrowed in anger. Only a few seconds had passed when they simultaneously started bickering, causing Tails to glance back at them in concern.

"Just let them be," Rouge said to him, her tone soft and consoling. For as long as Amy had known her - or could remember, for that matter - Rouge had always seemed to go out of her way to be nice to Tails. She didn't exactly know why the bat acted like that, but often assumed it was because of the age difference between her and the fox. Tails was so young he could be considered as a younger brother - or, at least, that's how Amy regarded him.

She had an inkling that Rouge thought of him the same way...maybe like the little brother she never had? She didn't know if Rouge even had a _family_, much less a younger brother. In all her years of knowing her, they hadn't bothered discussing it. And though she didn't know Rouge as well as she knew Cream, or even Blaze, it still left her feeling a bit odd (maybe empty? She couldn't comprehend the full weight of her emotions anymore) that she didn't know part of her friend's history...and a major part, at that.

"Of course the guys choose the _worst_ night to get drunk for the first time," Rouge mused aloud, breaking Amy from her train of thought.

The hedgehog nodded her head in response, the previous happiness she'd felt suddenly gone. "Do you know what happened?" she asked, her eyes flickering toward the door behind her. She didn't directly mention to what she was referring, but she figured it was obvious enough in the context of the situation.

Rouge leaned against the countertop behind her in response, her brows furrowed in thought. "I can't say for sure, but it sounded like some sort of explosive," she said.

"It _was_ an explosive," Tails affirmed. His voice was confident, but when she looked at him, Amy noticed that his face was distraught and his blue eyes were pained. The whole ordeal they had hopelessly fallen face-first into must have drained his spirits, as well. "Not a powerful one, but an explosive nonetheless. Depending on where it went off, it should've caused minimal damage."

"Do you think it was Egghead?" Rouge questioned.

"I don't know," Tails responded. "He's never resorted to bombing us at home before this, and when he does something, he usually makes a big scene."

"And this _isn't_ a big scene?" Amy retorted, placing her hands on her hips. An _explosive_ detonating near her house was _more _than a big enough scene, in her opinion.

The fox sighed. "No, that's not what I meant. What I was saying was that when Eggman actually bothers to try and kill us, he'll usually invade the city with his robots or launch an airship attack on G.U.N. A mere house bomb doesn't fit the pattern," he explained, tiredly scratching his head.

"So you don't think it was him?" Amy asked, searching for a solid answer.

Tails shook his head. "Not exactly. I don't _know_ who did it; I was just saying that it didn't fit Eggman's usual attack pattern - "

"AHH!" A sudden shriek ripped apart the relative quietness of the room, and Tails and Amy turned to see Rouge on the floor, tightly clasping her hands over her ears and squeezing her eyes shut. She looked to be in pain.

"What's wrong?" Amy hurriedly asked, bending down beside her and resting a hand on her shoulder. Rouge flinched at her touch and Amy pulled away, watching as the bat fiercely grit her teeth together. It seemed to the hedgehog that her friend was trying to prevent herself from screaming again, but what could possibly be _wrong_?

Amy received her answer moments later, when Rouge lost her resolve and screamed, "Make the noise fucking stop! It's terrible!"

"_Pfft_, what noise?" Sonic stupidly asked. Rouge's plight had caught his attention, and he had disengaged from his quarrel with Knuckles and drunkenly staggered over, using the countertop for support. "She's _gotta_ be crazy, 'cause I don't hear _nothin_'," he slurred, accusingly staring at her.

Knuckles slammed his fist down on the counter in response, and Amy audibly heard it crack under his immense strength. Instead of cussing out the drunken echidna, though, she directed her gaze elsewhere and pretended it didn't happen. What with all the hellish ludicrousness that had occurred so far, she wasn't sure she'd be able to deal with any more.

"Hey!" Knuckles barked, narrowing his eyes at Sonic. He stalked over to Rouge, whose very limbs were practically trembling in pain, and stood in front of her protectively. Though he was a lot steadier on his feet than the blue blur, his journey over to the batgirl was made in a disjointed and unnatural-looking fashion. When he spread his arms out beside him and glared the drunken hedgehog in the face, he dangerously tipped to the side, but managed to re-obtain his balance and continued trying to look menacing.

"She's not crazy," he darkly protested. He stared at Sonic for a few more seconds before turning around and stooping over the bat. Amy and Tails cautiously watched him, subtly backing away from the scene when Knuckles started petting Rouge's head. "She's just sad she didn't get to dance with me," he said goofily, wrapping his arms loosely around his female rival's torso.

Rouge, who had fallen silent sometime through the ordeal, suddenly snapped her eyes open and swiftly punched Knuckles across the face. The echidna recoiled with a yell and backed into Sonic, who lost his hold on the countertop and toppled over. The two fell to the floor in a tangled heap, Knuckles clutching his nose in pain while Sonic screamed at him to "get the hell off."

Amy rolled her eyes in annoyance - her mood hadn't improved since the first time Sonic and Knuckles had started bickering, and this wasn't making it any better. Before she could scream at them to shut up, Tails distracted her by suddenly gasping. When she looked over to him, she saw his eyes were widened in realization and he was standing oddly still.

"I hear it now," he said cryptically. "There's a frequency. It's really high-pitched, and really faint, but it's still there. _We_ can barely hear it, but it must be clear to Rouge," he continued, "and insanely loud. _That's_ the problem."

Amy nodded her head in understanding - she knew that Rouge was extremely sensitive to loud or high-frequency noises, but was at a loss for what to do. How would she be able to assist her if she could barely hear the damn sound herself? And, more importantly, how would she be able to _stop_ it if she had no idea where it was coming from?

"Worst of all, I've no idea what might be causing it," Tails said, voicing her unspoken concern. "Noises like that usually only originate from technological devices, especially if they're being turned on or off, or charging up -" He trailed off and turned to the pink hedgehog with a frantic dread. "Amy! There's another - !"

A booming explosion abruptly cut him off, and he ducked to the floor for safety, prepared for the worst. Sonic and Knuckles both screamed out in fear and Amy covered her head with her hands from her place on the floor. She was fully expecting to have the entire kitchen explode with her in it, but she didn't feel any fire singe her fur or any shrapnel spiral out of control and cut her flesh. Seconds passed in the tense silence of the blast's aftermath, and she cautiously looked up from the floor.

The kitchen was completely intact. Everything looked as it did before the explosion, and she and the others weren't dead or fatally wounded. The destructive incident must've gone off somewhere else in the house.

The chaotic screaming that had been raging in the other room immediately caught her attention as it pierced the silence. She realized that all the mobians trapped inside must've been subject to the explosion...and _now_ they must be screaming out of actual fear. Those assholes who had all been complaining about the lack of music must've just figured out what was actually going on.

"Amy, we need to get out of here!" Tails exclaimed, his face a mask of fear.

She hesitated at his call, unsure of what she wanted to do. She was torn between leaving and helping the other mobians - it felt like there was someone in there that she _needed_ to get, but she couldn't remember who. She silently, desperately wracked her brain for an answer, not wanting to make a direct decision about what to do.

Her mind was made up when Rouge started screaming again, pushing her ears tightly to her skull and writhing about on the floor. Her pain could only be caused by one thing, the one thing they had previously failed to notice until it was too late -

"Let's go," Amy commanded, helping Rouge off the ground and briskly walking to the far end of the room, where there was a window. Tails urged Sonic and Knuckles off of the ground, but Sonic accidentally bumped into Knuckles and the echidna defensively pushed him, growling in anger. The hedgehog pushed him back, and they proceeded to engage in a shoving match before even taking a step toward the window.

"STOP FIGHTING AND GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!" Amy screamed. She was at her wit's end and was not going to take any other bullshit from her drunken companions, especially because the situation was a dire one, and she wanted to escape it before anything else horrible happened.

At her call, the two stopped bickering and stared at her, shocked at her exclamation. She didn't bother paying attention to them, only turned back around and sat Rouge down on the table that was next to the window. She quietly picked up one of the quaint wooden dining chairs settled nearby and violently slammed it against the window, shattering its glass. Then, in a haphazard manner, she waved the chair around in the now-open space, clearing away any jagged pieces of window that remained in the frame.

Once it looked relatively safe, she tossed the chair to the ground, glanced over her shoulder at the others, and decisively said, "Let's go."


	9. The Grievance of Fate

**Foreword: Firstly, I would like to graciously thank OvErLoRd Darkspine for reviewing. Even though your guess was wrong, I will still PM you later about the "prizes" I offered in my previous author's note, so technically, you won anyway, haha. Secondly, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I would _really_ appreciate it if you would review and tell me what you think. I've kind of been discouraged in writing this lately, because I honestly don't really know what people think of it. I know people say to "write for yourself", but we all know reviews make us smile when we see them in our inboxes :p lol.  
So yeah...hope you guys like this chapter. The last segment of it was the most fun to write for me in this entire fic so far...so yeah. OH! I also forgot to mention: I've been exploring more of the Sonic universe lately, and have realized that I've made the characters terribly OOC...sorry about that :(. I feel like a total noob, lol. In this chapter, I've done a bit more research and tried to improve on that, but I can't make major changes to what I've already written...so I guess we'll just have to keep doing the OOC-ness for now. I guess to make it a little better I'll say that this story is kinda AU, character-wise...lol. Especially considering Blaze and Silver are in it already, and they usually live in a totally different time period xD. So yeah...hehe. Sorry about that, and hope you enjoy this next little bit :p  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other related trademarks. All original characters and the plot, however, belong to me, and you must ask for my permission in order for them to be used otherwise.

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**

C H A P T E R - E I G H T :  
The Grievance of Fate

--

When Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic followed Amy through the window, it was not without hesitation. She had made more than a menacing impression when she had verbally lashed out at them - they'd never seen her so riled up before. It had actually been a relatively frightening situation to have her scream so brutally at them.

And because of their newfound fear of her, they quickly disposed of their hesitation, leapt from the window with haste, and crossed the yard to where Amy was standing with Rouge. The bat appeared to be in much less pain, but was still gritting her teeth and digging her nails into her palms. The hedgehog who was supporting her on her shoulder looked unfazed by her friend's discomfort - instead, she was observing the environment around her.

Outside, in the night air, it was much cooler than the suffocating atmosphere that was prevalent in the house. It was also unnaturally dark outside. The artificial light usually produced by the streetlamps was gone, leaving everything in total darkness.

"It's _super_ weird out here, man," Sonic commented, looking up at the sky with an awestruck expression. "I mean, where'd all the freakin' _LIGHTS GO_?!" His last few words had escalated in volume until he was screaming into the summer night, holding his hands out before him in a tragic manner.

Knuckles snorted. "Dude, shut up," he said bluntly. "Get over it."

Sonic whipped his head around to glare at his thick-headed friend and bared his teeth at him.

Tails let out a sharp warning of "Sonic..." before the hero finally backed off, casting his gaze away from the echidna and instead looking out into the street.

_BOOM_.

The third explosion, the one that they had actually been anticipating, sounded loudly behind them, and they jumped in surprise.

A frightening silence blanketed them in the blast's wake, and they all stood motionless, their expressions stony and their limbs locked in place. Their statue-like stances didn't last long, though, as Amy turned away from the house and started walking toward the road, motioning for her companions to follow her. They did so without question, their faces grim as death while they dragged their feet along behind them.

* * *

"Shadow, I'm not really sure if this is the best idea - "

"And what else would you propose we do?" the hedgehog in question snapped. He glared at the cat in annoyance and she turned away from him, at an absolute loss for what to say.

Seeing her submission, Shadow focused his attention back on the house in front of him. The building looked almost exactly like Amy's house, with white vinyl siding and a well-groomed yard. He examined the front door, which was a dark oaken structure with ornate vines carved into its glossy surface. His eyes traveled over the brass doorknob, and then to the door's opposite side as he examined the hinges with a calculating composure.

At first, he thought he might as well just kick down the door - there was nobody in the neighborhood to watch him do it, anyway. He was completely convinced that everyone was just..._gone_, for whatever reason. He didn't know why, but he was sure that the houses that lined the street he was investigating were all empty of their inhabitants. It was disturbing to be aware of it, but even worse to _feel_ it. The scarily still air nearly gave him gooseflesh and almost made his quills stand straight up, but it wasn't of his own will. He wasn't scared at all - hell, he would never get gooseflesh in the first place, even against the most formidable foes.

...So why did he feel at odds and ends now? It was just an empty neighborhood, nothing else to it...

Instead of kicking down the door, he settled on a much gentler approach. He deliberately walked up the steps leading to the house's front porch and approached the oaken gateway, alert as ever. His eyes were thoroughly scanning, analyzing everything new that came into his line of sight with each step he took. Staying calm wasn't at all a feat for him; in situations like this one, he never lost his resolve, only became more aware and suspicious of anything and everything that crossed into his path.

He was about to place his hand on the doorknob and check to see if its mechanism was unlocked, but was interrupted by a sudden, violent crashing sound. He whipped around, only to see a mushroom cloud of smoke rising from the center of the city. The distant (but ever prevalent) blaring of car alarms filled the explosion's wake, along with what he recognized as faint screaming.

He leapt off the porch to get a better view of the catastrophe, but didn't see much else. The huge cloud of smoke swallowed buildings in its murky opalescence and obstructed his view. He'd have to get closer if he wanted to find out what was going on.

With his mind set, he started off at a light jog down the street, but had only made it about four feet before Sage indignantly yelled, "You can't just leave me here!" She ran up to him and matched his pace, looking at him with a defiant gleam in her eye.

"That's bullshit," he bluntly commented. His good mood was long gone, and he was starting to get annoyed with her - she was just a burden, after all. If he'd been by himself from the start, then he would probably be aware of and _dealing_ with the situation at hand already, not stupidly floundering around about it. "You'll never be able to keep up with me," he continued, coolly transitioning from a jog to a light run. With his air skates now activated, he was gliding smoothly along the ground about ten feet in front of Sage, who had fallen behind with his burst of speed.

Once again she caught up to him, steadily looking him in the eyes. "I didn't say you had to run at light-speed," she airily said.

He glanced at her as though she was unimportant. "And I didn't say I needed to," he replied, suddenly increasing his speed again so Sage was left behind. The air whisked over his quills as he practically glided over the ground toward the smoke cloud. He turned a street corner and then Sage was at his side again, running gracefully alongside him. She'd caught up again.

Neither of them spoke for a short period of time, and so it was silence that accompanied them as they ran through the city's suburbs. Every other street they passed was as equally quiet and eerie as the one they had investigated after the chaos at Amy's house, and as they ran, they took the liberty of observing their surroundings. Their search once again came up fruitless, as the new roads they journeyed over were just as lifeless as the first. The neighborhood was completely empty, almost deserted-looking, even.

Shadow was scanning an upcoming bridge for any sign of life when Sage finally broke the silence. "I'm coming with you, regardless how fast you can run," she said determinedly. She opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped, as if unsure what to say. After a hesitant moment of silence she finally said, "And you're the most trustworthy person around right now, so I'm _kinda_ depending on you to get me outta here." There was an odd look her in eyes when she glanced at him again, and her tone was light, airy, and almost..._playful_?

Shadow puzzled over how she could possibly be happy after such tragedy had befell her, but let it go. He stayed silent for a few seconds. "We'll have to compromise," he said cryptically.

Sage looked at him in confusion, wondering what he meant, but was supplied with the answer when he grabbed her arm (luckily enough, it was her good one) and jerked her forward, putting on an extra burst of speed with his skates while he dragged her along.

"Try to keep up," he told her tonelessly, "or else we'll have complications."

She had an inkling that by "complications" he either meant she would get hurt or left behind. Either or, she tried her best to match his pace, well aware that he was easily equal to Sonic in speed. If he were to go as fast as his skates would allow, then she would be hopelessly left behind, regardless of whether or not he was pulling her along.

She prepared herself to become more light-footed, but knew it'd be a struggle for her if Shadow increased his speed. Though she was a decent runner, barely slower than Blaze herself, she had no chance of keeping up with Shadow. His speed was one of the attributes he was renowned for, other than his strength, wit, and intelligence, and was definitely her superior in regards to it.

However, Shadow didn't go any faster. She didn't know if he was doing it out of pity for her or if the extra weight of dragging her along actually slowed his pace, but she was still grateful.

The two rounded yet another corner and ran onto a main street - one that led directly into the city. Empty cars were lined up against the curbs, but there were no passengers in them, nor were there any pedestrians venturing into the various shops and cafes. It was empty, just like everywhere else.

As the first few buildings that lined the city came into view, no longer obstructed by the smoke cloud, Shadow made a sharp turn into an alleyway and jerked Sage along with him, taking the more covert route into the heart of the danger scene.

* * *

Amy's plans to get as far away from her house as possible were deterred once she stepped out onto the street. She stood with her mouth agape at what she saw there, completely startled at the sight.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, looking at the smoke billowing from her house in astonishment. A rather haphazard-looking hole was where the front door used to be, and thick gray smoke was steadily flowing from within it and dissipating into the night sky.

"What were you expecting, daisies?" Rouge scoffed, haughtily crossing her arms over her chest as she examined the smoke emanating from within the house. She had recovered from her previous frequency-induced pain, it seemed.

Amy shot a glare over to her, remembering how the jewel thief could be a real bitch sometimes. Sure, they were friends, but they often bickered and cussed each other out, and it was a rare day when they actually acted like they associated with one another of their own free will. Earlier in the evening that's what had happened, but after all hell broke loose it seemed their temporary companionship had gone to shit.

Just as Amy was about to retort with a sharp comment of how _she_ was the one who helped Rouge out of the house, a few figures ran frantically out of the smoke cloud. It was only a few people at first, and they all looked pretty much uninjured, but then the scattered few progressed into a steady stream of screaming mobians. From what she could see, it looked like people were practically _fighting_ to get through the doorway and out to safety.

As more and more of the party's guests escaped from the house, she noticed a trend in their appearance: with each passing second, their clothes seemed to get more raggedy and charred, and their faces more frantic and fearful. It finally got to the point where the stream died down and two dogs stumbled out of the house, their faces smeared with blood and their clothes ripped beyond recognition. From behind her, she heard Sonic make an odd noise in the back of his throat - whether it was out of disgust or concern, she didn't know, but she suddenly felt an urge to go back and comfort him.

She cast her gaze to the side and observed Sonic from the corner of her eye, debating if she should even try to assist him in his drunken state of mind, or check to see if there were more stragglers left in her house.

After a moment of thought, she figured that enough people had already come out of her house, and she turned to Sonic, ready to help him and thus earn his affections. The blue hedgehog was staring at the building in a daze, his eyes cloudy and his brows furrowed together in confusion. He looked as though he had no idea what was going on.

_Even better_, Amy mused, smirking as she walked over to him. She was a mere foot away from his slumped form when Tails' voice froze her in place.

"_Cream?!_" the fox yelled in shock. Amy whirled around at the mention of her best friend's name and was immediately greeted with the sight of the frail rabbit walking out of the smoke. Cheese, her ever faithful chao, was urging her along by lightly tugging on her hand.

The pink hedgehog rushed over to her, engulfing the rabbit in a hug as soon as she got close enough to touch her. Cream looked a little startled, but wrapped her arms back around Amy, regardless.

As soon as she had come into contact with Cream, a stark realization overtook Amy, and she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. _This_ was who she had forgotten back in her house - her best friend. But _how_? How could she possibly ever have forgotten _Cream_? The fact that her mind had been a mess and she barely remembered the layout of her house didn't nearly make up for it. She had known Cream for the majority of her life, and always went to her if she needed help. _Cream_ was the one who didn't judge her when she talked about her infatuation with Sonic, and _Cream_ was the one who kept her in check when she was angry. How in the _hell_ could she have forgotten _her_?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Amy repeated, burying her face in the rabbit's shoulder as her voice rose in pitch and steadily grew distraught. "I'm horrible, I should've come back for you, I should've come back for you, I should've - "

"Amy, everything's fine, don't worry about it," Cream softly interrupted, lightly patting the hedgehog on the back as she consoled her. "I'm not hurt, and everything is okay. Nothing is your fault."

From beside the two, Tails pet Cheese on the head, thanked it for helping Cream out of the building, and smiled down at the little creature. Cheese nodded in response, and then the fox looked over to the rabbit in a concerned manner. Her normally orange fur was covered with soot and splayed in odd directions, but she looked okay otherwise - there were no visible cuts or burns on her skin.

Cream looked up from the ground and caught Tails staring at her. The fox immediately blushed and was on the verge of turning away in embarrassment when she smiled at him. Startled at her response, he shakily grinned back and then watched as she returned to consoling Amy, the smile still lingering on her lips.

* * *

When he had been getting ready for Amy's party, Silver had not intended to be caught up in such a predicament. After he had pursued Knuckles through the dancing crowd and taken full advantage of his drunken state of mind by getting him to spill the beans about his feelings for Rouge ("She's a bitch, but _dammit_ she's sexy," he'd said), he had returned the echidna to the usually-safe care of the batgirl. He then departed to the mob of dancers situated in the middle of the room, but not before telling Rouge what Knuckles had said about her and watching as she cuffed him sharply over the head.

He'd just started to have fun when the first explosion occurred and the entire house was plunged into darkness. He'd been violently jostled and pushed about in the chaotic crowd, but actually managed to escape to a less densely packed area of the room. Once he was alone, he'd started sifting through possibilities of what could've possibly happened, and why.

That was when the next explosion went off on the opposite side of the room. Silver only caught a glimpse of the torrent of fire and debris that was blasted up into the air, but that was all he needed to rush over and help those who might've been caught in the explosion's wake.

A horrid feeling had enveloped him when he finally reached the blast site and saw the handful of bodies scattered on the ground. There were four of his fellow classmates who had fallen victim to the explosion, their lifeless bodies lying twisted and charred across the floor. He carefully avoided looking at their faces, not wanting to know if they had actually realized their fate before death finally gripped them.

A boiling, seething sort of anger filled his stomach like hot iron. These people had died for _nothing_ - a random, mindless act of terrorism had claimed their lives. It was unfair. They had just been caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, and death had been the ultimate consequence.

Silver tightly curled his hands into fists, brimming with rage. A terrible injustice had befallen these unlucky mobians, and he was dead set on preventing any further disaster.

His chance came not one second too soon. Just as the hedgehog turned back around and set his eyes upon the writhing, screaming crowd, a flash of light caught his attention. He didn't wait a moment to react - fast as thought, he manipulated the fire that was stretching out over the crowd with his psychokinetic power and sent it spiraling back through the hole from whence it came.

The actual _noise_ of the explosion sounded immediately after he'd gotten rid of the fire. Combined with the image of the newly-formed hole in the wall along with the debris falling harmlessly about it, the sight was an odd one to see. Without the fire's presence, it seemed less...menacing.

What with a clear escape open for them, the party guests took advantage of the opportunity and fled. Most of them were fine physically, but an unlucky few had been subject to the dreadful wrath of the explosions. It was these people who Silver sought out and lent his help to.

While the hedgehog was assisting a dog with a broken arm up off the floor, a soft, familiar voice caught his attention. When he looked in the direction of the source his eyes fell upon Cream, who was ushering a distraught-looking weasel out the door while her chao stood beside her in a protective stance.

"Cream!" Silver exclaimed, walking over to the rabbit once he had successfully lifted the injured dog up. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine," she reassured. "And I'm sorry Silver, but shouldn't we be more concerned about the injured guests rather than my own health?"

The hedgehog tiredly grinned. It never ceased to amaze him how Cream was so selfless. "I think everyone still alive has been evacuated," he said grimly. When he remembered those who had been killed in the explosions, a block of lead felt as though it had been carelessly dropped in his stomach. "Thanks for helping with that....but it would probably be wise if you left before anything else happens," he advised.

Cream tilted her head to the side in confusion. "But what about you? I don't want you to get hurt, either."

Silver shook his head. "I'll be able to handle it, don't worry," he said, using his psychokinetic ability to lift some debris off the ground and indicate to her what he meant. "And I want to make sure we got _everyone_ out safe."

Cream hesitated for a few moments, but when Silver beckoned her to leave with a wave of his hand, the rabbit did so without protest. She cast one worried glance back at the hedgehog before she disappeared into the dark smoke billowing out from the hole in the wall, her chao urging her onward.

Once she was gone from his sight, Silver turned back to the destruction that had once been Amy's living room. Now it just looked like a crumbling piece of shit, totally worthless in value. It made him sick to his stomach to look upon it, and he felt even worse when his gaze passed over the unlucky people whose lives had been taken in the destruction and chaos of the entire situation.

"_Shit_!"

The pained exclamation immediately caught his attention, and Silver looked across the room just in time to see a vaguely familiar figure crumple to the floor. A million and one incomprehensible thoughts whirled about in his head as he rushed over to the figure, hoping, just hoping it wasn't -

His breath caught in his throat as he recognized the distinct lilac fur of Blaze. When it had finally registered in his mind that it was actually _her_, he was at her side in a split second, looking at her with a horrified concern writ all over his features.

"Blaze!" he cried desperately, kneeling down beside her. His eyes frantically roamed over her, examining her for any sign of damage, but he froze up when he caught sight of her leg. The phrase "Are you okay?" seemed to flow from his mouth unbidden, almost like a reflex, but even as it escaped his throat he knew the answer. Once he had seen the blood pouring from her mutilated leg, the tendons and muscle exposed in the most indecent manner to the world, he had known that she was not all-fucking-right.

"Silver," she breathed. Silver sharply looked up at her once she spoke, meeting her gaze without the slightest hesitation. Her normally vibrant golden eyes looked a little duller, and her face was contorted into an expression of the utmost pain, but she wasn't crying. She never cried.

Silver didn't know whether it was in anger or a heartbreaking agony that he realized Blaze _still_ wouldn't let herself cry, even in this dire time. How the hell could she be so strong? _Why_ wouldn't she just give up for once and let her emotions _go_? He felt like ramming his fist into the wall. Blaze had always been the strong one, _always_ taking bullshit because her timid nature got the best of her, and _always_ concealing her emotions from the world. He didn't understand how she could _still_ be strong enough to hold on and keep her resolve.

His vision of Blaze suddenly became blurry, and after a brief moment of confusion he realized he was crying. She was in so much _pain_, and he was unable to do anything about it. Her leg was completely trashed. Even if she didn't die from blood loss, she would be without a leg for the rest of her life, condemned to live as a gimp. He felt like screaming as he thought of it. For the _rest of her life_, she would be unable to do all the things she loved. Her previously unparalleled acrobatic skills were _gone_.

_After all_, he grimly thought, _who the fuck's heard of a one-legged cat with good balance? _

A choked sob escaped his throat as he curled his hands into fists on the ground beside the cat. He couldn't deal with this. _Why_ did this have to happen to _her_?! If anyone, _he _was the one who deserved it. Blaze had already sacrificed so much in her life; why did fate keep punishing _her_?

He suddenly felt a warm presence on his face. Through his tears he saw Blaze holding her hand to his cheek, a faint smile on her lips. He clasped her hand with his and shakily grinned back at her, cursing himself for being such a weak bastard.

"Silver," Blaze started again, her voice quivering. "Silver, I - "

She didn't get to finish her phrase, nor did Silver get to save her from her pain - their lives, and subsequently, their thoughts were abruptly ended as another explosion tore through their midst and made their fate resolute.


End file.
